The strangest union of the twentieth century: 50 years of enlightened love between the Nobel laureate Sartre and the feminist de Beauvoir

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

They met in their student years and went through life hand in hand for more than half a century, but in the eyes of those around them, this union was too strange. The Nobel laureate and ideologue of feminism was united by a love for philosophy and for each other, but many of the usual signs of marriage were missing in their relationship. One can argue endlessly about whether such love had a right to exist, but for Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, the answer was obvious and unambiguous.

Student love

In 1929, when Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre met at the Faculty of Arts at the Sorbonne, no one would have dared to call this couple ideal. The elegant and slender Simone seemed the complete opposite of the nondescript Jean-Paul. But what did it matter if she felt her double in him, with whom her thoughts, tastes, desires and even feelings coincided.

In the philosophy competition, which resulted in the national ranking of students in France, Sartre took first place, and de Beauvoir - second. They were worthy rivals, became like-minded people and equal companions of each other. They deliberately avoided following generally accepted norms, and therefore, instead of the traditional marriage, they came to the conclusion of the "Manifesto of Love", a kind of agreement that determined their relationship.

According to the Manifesto, they made a pledge to be intellectually loyal to each other, but physically free of obligation. Everyone was free to choose their friends and girlfriends for carnal pleasures, but at the same time be extremely frank with their other half in creativity, thoughts and intimate life. It seems that such rules seemed to both of them as a guarantee of maintaining a relationship much more than a banal marriage.

Separation test

Diplomas were received, and after Simone went to Rouen, and Jean-Paul - to Le Havre, where each took up teaching. The connecting thread between them was letters, in which they described in detail every day, their feelings and thoughts, desires and dreams. The habit of conducting a written dialogue with the interlocutor did not go anywhere even later, when the lovers began to live in the same city.

Sartre confessed his fear of losing Simone, but at the same time did not at all seek to limit his sexual desires. Moreover, the strength and "safety" of the connection with her frightened the freedom-loving Sartre. He believed: too strong a relationship is overly controllable, and therefore deprived of freedom.

Philosophical Union

Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, who had not achieved complete harmony in their intimate life, began to dilute it with new sensations, inviting third parties to their bedrooms. They were expected not only to be in bed, but also to share the worldview and the idea of love in the understanding of the two philosophers. For several years, Olga Kazakevich saved both of them from melancholy, who with equal pleasure was both in Sartre's bed and in de Beauvoir's bed. Later, Olga's sister Wanda was admitted to the circle of "family members", after which new girls and boys appeared.

Since 1938, Sartre and Beauvoir lived in Paris, but they could not even think of occupying one apartment or one hotel room for two, somehow solving everyday problems that invariably arise when coexisting in one space. Different rooms in the Mistral Hotel allowed them not to limit each other's freedom. Moreover, most of the time they spent in a cafe, where they not only dined, but also worked, reflected, argued.

The spouses (if you can call this contractual alliance) invariably told each other how and with whom they spend their time, without being embarrassed by the most intimate details. In this they saw their freedom from prejudice and adherence to the clause of the agreement on mutual unlimited trust and frankness established by them themselves.

After Sartre was drafted into the army during World War II, Beauvoir took over as head of the family. She helped Olga and Wanda, worried about Jacques-Laurent Boss, the beloved of Olga and Simone herself. And after the war, the works of Sartre and Beauvoir were published, which brought both world fame and the reputation of "rulers of thoughts".

Relations in this philosophical union could not destroy mutual betrayal, because they were not considered treason. Everything took place exclusively within the framework of the contract concluded during his student years. In the first place, both always had freedom, and only then - feelings. Simone and Jean-Paul were carried away, fell in love, painfully experienced breakups with third parties and invariably remained together.

They loved to travel, met famous people, indulged in pleasures and enjoyed life. Only the years took their toll, and when Sartre almost went blind in his declining years, he announced his retirement from literature, could no longer conquer women, but found a new occupation for a comfortable pastime - alcoholic drinks and tranquilizers. In an interview, he admitted: alcohol paired with a pill makes him think faster. Even Simone was shocked by his words.

Jean-Paul Sartre passed away in April 1980. Simone survived him for six years, completely losing interest in life without him. It seems that in those years she dreamed only of reuniting with Sartre and moving from a state of eternal separation to a state of eternal love. Most often, she could be found sitting at the window overlooking the Montparnasse cemetery, where Jean-Paul rested. And where exactly six years later she herself found rest.

The idyll of the feminist intellectual Simone de Beauvoir and the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre began in 1929 and lasted 51 years. Someone such a relationship is difficult to understand and accept, but for someone their relationship can serve as an example.