The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir's 'Les Mandarins' (review)

This collection of eleven essays on Beauvoir's longest and most complex novel sets out to explore its philosophical content, and each chapter relates the novel to current political ethical issues to a greater or lesser extent. The explicit aim of the volume is to fill the gap in Beauvoir studies resulting from a neglect of the philosophical aspects of the novel, yet no reference is made to earlier studies which provide philosophical readings and, surprisingly, no mention is made of the important work done by Edward and Kate Fullbrook (1998) on Beauvoir's literary-philosophical method. (Holveck, 2002, is mistakenly referenced as a literary study.) The disappointing introduction to the collection is poorly written and, regrettably, the summary of the novel contains inaccuracies. The brief survey of the critical reception of Les Mandarins is useful but its relevance is not clear. The essays in the volume are uneven in terms of readability and the contribution they make to Beauvoir scholarship, but the stronger essays are well-written and offer insightful readings. After an initial exposition of Beauvoir's ideas on freedom and situation, Sonia Kruks's excellent chapter focuses on the nature of political judgement as represented in the novel's exploration of the lived experience of Henri Perron. Ursula Tidd's extremely interesting reading analyses the function of the intellectual in Les Mandarins and explores the notions of testimonial speech and truth-telling at work in the text, in particular, in relation to Foucault's work on parrhesia. The contribution by Gail Weiss deals with Beauvoir's ideas relating to politics and the responsibility of intellectuals. Weiss contrasts Beauvoir's position with Gadamer's in his apologia for Heidegger's affiliation with the Nazi party during the SecondWorldWar, convincingly arguing that, for Beauvoir, intersubjectivity is the basis of all individual inquiry and action. Shannon M. Mussett's valuable reading explores Anne's struggle with and against the absolute, tracing her journey to freedom through her dependance on God, Robert and Lewis. Eleanore Holveck's thought-provoking essay discusses the relationship between Anne and Lewis. Having related Beauvoir's views of authentic sexual relationships to Husserl's theory of intersubjectivity, Holveck goes on to contrast her conception with Nelson Algren's. The collection ends with Peg Brand's useful essay on Beauvoir's theory of aesthetics. Readers familiar with Beauvoir's novel will be disturbed by the factual errors that have crept into some chapters. A number of criticisms can be made of the presentation of the text. In particular, it is unhelpful to refer to Beauvoir's works by date alone, especially when the date given may be the date of publication of a recent edition of a translation as opposed to the original date of publication. The text is also spoilt by a lack of attention to detail and by a considerable number of irritating printing errors resulting in superimposed characters. Despite these complaints, this is, on the whole, a stimulating collection of essays which is likely to be of interest to those working on existentialism, feminist philosophy and the relationship between literature and philosophy as well as to Beauvoir scholars.