Old Age
About this ebook
Growing old is the only alternative to death – part of life’s natural journey for those of us lucky enough to get there. In this book, the spiritual successor to her groundbreaking work of feminism The Second Sex, de Beauvoir explores in depth life’s inevitable, universal journey. The Second Sex reveals how women are othered, Old Age dissects the othering of the elderly.
Arguing for a radical rethinking of ageing and advocating for an old-age movement that challenges capitalism, de Beauvoir urges us to make active choices in how we age. In this holistic and ambitious book she calls for valuing the wisdom, creativity and capability of all people, unconnected to their economic value in society.
‘A brilliant achievement’ New York Times
About the author
Simone de Beauvoir (Author)
Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. In 1929 she became the youngest person ever to obtain the agrégation in philosophy at the Sorbonne, placing second to Jean-Paul Sartre. She taught at the lycées at Marseille and Rouen from 1931-1937, and in Paris from 1938-1943. After the war, she emerged as one of the leaders of the existentialist movement, working with Sartre on Les Temps Mordernes. The author of several books including The Mandarins (1957) which was awarded the Prix Goncourt, de Beauvoir was one of the most influential thinkers of her generation. She died in 1986.
Patrick O'Brian (Translator)
Patrick O'Brian's oeuvre includes the magnificent Aubrey and Maturin novels about the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars, a biography of Picasso, and the biography of Joseph Banks, as well as distinguished translations of Simone de Beauvoir, André Maurois and Jacques Soustelle. Patrick O'Brian was born in 1914 and spent his later years in France. He died in January 2000.
