"On Ne Naît Pas Femme - On le Devient...": The Life of a Sentence

This collection of essays takes up the most famous feminist sentence ever written, Simone de Beauvoir's "On ne naît pas femme: on le devient," finding in it a flashpoint that galvanizes feminist thinking and action in multiple dimensions. Since its publication, the sentence has inspired feminist thinking and action in many different cultural and linguistic contexts. Two entangled controversies emerge in the life of this sentence: a controversy over the practice of translation and a controversy over the nature and status of sexual difference. Variously translated into English as "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman" (Parshley, 1953), "one is not born but rather becomes woman" (Borde and Malovany-Chevallier, 2010), and "women are made, not born" (in popular parlance), the conflict over the translation crystallizes the feminist debate over the possibilities and limitations of social construction as a theory of sexual difference. When Sheila Malovany-Chevallier and Constance Borde (contributors to this volume), translated __Le Deuxième Sexe__ into English in 2010, their decision to alter the translation of the famous sentence by omitting the "a" ignited debate that has not yet exhausted itself. The controversy over the English translation has opened a conversation about translation practices and their relation to meaning more generally, and broadens, in this volume, into an examination of the life of Beauvoir's key sentence in other languages and political and cultural contexts as well. The philosophers, translators, literary scholars and historian who author these essays take decidedly different positions on the meaning of the sentence in French, and thus on its correct translation in a variety of languages--but also on the meaning and salience of the question of sexual difference as it travels between languages, cultures, and political worlds. This Collection Of Essays Takes Up The Most Famous Feminist Sentence Ever Written, Simone De Beauvoir's On Ne Naît Pas Femme: On Le Devient, Finding In It A Flashpoint That Galvanizes Feminist Thinking And Action In Multiple Dimensions. Since Its Publication, The Sentence Has Inspired Feminist Thinking And Action In Many Different Cultural And Linguistic Contexts. Two Entangled Controversies Emerge In The Life Of This Sentence: A Controversy Over The Practice Of Translation And A Controversy Over The Nature And Status Of Sexual Difference. This Book Examines Both Conflicts.--provided By The Publisher. Introduction: Bonnie Mann -- Section I: Intellectual History -- Before Beauvon, Before Butler: Genre And Gender In France And The Anglo-american World / Karen Offen ; Beauvoir Against Objectivism: The Operation Of The Norm In Beauvoir And Butler / Bonnie Mann -- Section Ii: History Of A Scandal -- The Silencing Of Simone De Beauvoir: Guess What's Missing From The Second Sex / Margaret A. Simons ; While We Wait: The English Translation Of The Second Sex / Toril Moi ; The Adulteress Wife / Toril Moi ; Simone De Beauvoir: The Second Sex (review Of The New Translation) / Nancy Bauer ; The Grand Rectification: The Second Sex / Meryl Altman -- Section Iii: The Philosophers' Debate -- The Floating A / Debra Bergoffen ; Becoming A Woman: Reading Beauvoir's Response To The Woman Question / Megan M. Burke ; The Phenomenal Body Is Not Born; It Comes To Be A Body-subject: Interpreting The Second Sex / Carmen López Sáenz ; Woman Does Not Become Her / Janine Jones ; The Second Sex Of Consciousness: A New Temporality And Ontology For Beauvoir's Becoming A Woman / Jennifer Mcweeny -- Section Iv: The Labor Of Translation -- The Life Of A Sentence: Translation As A Lived Experience / Constance Borde And Sheila Malovany-chevallier ; Challenges In Translating / Beauvoir Marybeth Timmermann ; French Women Become, German Women Are Made? / Simone De Beauvoir, Alice Schwarzer, Translation And Quotation / Anna-lisa Baumeister ; Becoming Woman: Simone De Beauvoir And Drugi Pol In Socialist Yugoslavia / Anna Bogic ; Retranslating The Second Sex Into Finnish: Choices, Practices, And Ideas / Erika Ruonakoski. Edited By Bonnie Mann And Martina Ferrari. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This collection of essays takes up the most famous feminist sentence ever written, Simone de Beauvoir's "On ne naît pas femme: on le devient," finding in it a flashpoint of feminist thinking. Two controversies emerge from this sentence which the volume addresses from multiple scholarly perspectives: one over the practice of translation and one over the nature and status of sexual difference. This collection of essays takes up the most famous feminist sentence ever written, Simone de Beauvoir's "On ne nait pas femme: on le devient," finding in it a flashpoint of feminist thinking. Two controversies emerge from this sentence which the volume addresses from multiple scholarly perspectives: one over the practice of translation and one over the nature and status of sexual difference.