Tete-a-Tete (52 page)

13
.
S to S de B, November 24, 1939, in
Witness,
p. 361. (Trans. modified.)

14
.
Sartre,
Being and Nothingness,
tr. Hazel Barnes (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956), pp. 489–91.

15
.
S de B to S, October 7, 1939, in
Letters,
p. 102.

16
.
S de B to S, November 18, 1939, in
Letters,
p. 173.

17
.
Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir's archives contain several letters from Olga to Simone de Beauvoir, full of anxieties.

18
.
S de B to S, October 25, 1939, in
Letters,
p. 140. (Trans. modified.)

19
.
S to S de B, September 13, 1939, in
Witness,
p. 247.

20
.
S de B to S, November 6 and 10, 1939, in
Letters,
pp. 148–54.

21
.
S to S de B, November 6, 7, 8, 1939, in
Witness,
pp. 326–31.

22
.
S de B to S, December 11, 1939, in
Letters,
p. 206.

23
.
S to S de B, December 23, 1939, in
Witness,
p. 424.

24
.
Bost to S de B, October 25, 1939, in
Correspondance,
p. 608. Because of frequent power outages, hairdressers had difficulty setting and perming women's hair, and “turbans” came into fashion as a way of lifting the hair off the face. Beauvoir was told the style suited her. She would continue to wear turbans throughout her life, long after the fashion had changed.

25
.
S de B to S, December 17, 1939, in
Letters,
p. 218. (Trans. modified.)

26
.
S de B to S, December 14, 1939, in
Letters,
p. 211.

27
.
S de B to S, December 21, 1939, in
Letters,
p. 223. (Trans. modified.)

28
.
S de B to S, January 14, 1940, in
Letters,
p. 255.

29
.
S de B,
Journal de Guerre,
February 2, 1940, pp. 266–67.

30
.
S to S de B, February 24, 1940, in
Quiet Moments in a War: The Letters of Jean-Paul Sartre to Simone de Beauvoir, 1926–1939,
trans. Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992), p. 75.

31
.
S to S de B, February 15, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
pp. 54–55.

32
.
Bost to S de B, January 6, 1940, in
Correspondance,
p. 884.

33
.
S de B to S, February 18, 1940, in
Letters,
p. 276. (Trans. modified.)

34
.
Ibid.

35
.
Marcel Mouloudji,
Le Petit Invité
(Paris: Balland, 1989).

36
.
S quotes Wanda's letter to S de B, February 23, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 71.

37
.
S enclosed a copy of his letter to Colette in his letter to S de B, February 23, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 73.

38
.
S to S de B, February 24, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 75.

39
.
S to S de B, February 29, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
pp. 87–89.

40
.
S to S de B, March 1, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
pp. 89–90.

41
.
S de B to S, February 27, 1940, in
Letters,
p. 279.

42
.
S de B to S, March 4, 1940, in
Letters,
p. 285.

43
.
At the end of March 1940, while Sartre was with Wanda, Beauvoir visited Bost at the front, in the Meuse region, getting them both into trouble with the authorities.

44
.
Beauvoir makes this point in
PL,
p. 508.

45
.
Sartre reproached Wanda for not telling him about Olga's affair. He asked her if Olga had told Bost. Wanda replied that of course Olga had not. Did Sartre really expect Olga to tell Bost, who was far away and who had told her that he had only his relationship with Olga to cling to? This “purely physical affair” was not worth such a bloodbath. Sartre wrote back that her attitude was “charming.” He wondered if Wanda, too, would have a “purely physical affair” while he was on the front line, and not tell him. (Sartre to Wanda, May 26, 1940, Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir archives.)

46
.
S to S de B, May 3, 1940, original letter in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Beauvoir deleted this whole discussion from the published version.

47
.
S to S de B, May 8, 1940, original letter in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Beauvoir deleted this passage from the published correspondence. Michel Contat sums up these two letters in
Literature and Its Cults,
pp. 153–54.

48
.
Niko Papatakis, the filmmaker, born in 1918, is best known for his controversial 1963 film
Les Abysses,
which made allegorical reference to the Algerian War. Sartre wrote a blurb supporting it, which Papatakis used in his press release. Papatakis's memoirs,
Tous les désespoirs sont permis,
were published by Fayard in 2003.

49
.
My interview with Niko Papatakis, Café de Flore, October 30, 2003.

50
.
S to S de B, May 12, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 180.

51
.
S to Wanda, May 11, 1940 (Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir archives) and May 17, 1940. (This one letter to Wanda is among Sartre's lettersto Beauvoir at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)

52
.
S to S de B, May 29, 1940, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. (Some sections were cut from the published version.)

53
.
Beauvoir describes this journey, giving her own experience to Hélène, in her novel
The Blood of Others.

54
.
S to S de B, July 8, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 233.

55
.
Adieux,
p. 389.

56
.
Papatakis knew nothing about Olga's pregnancy until after the event. It was very unpleasant, he writes, to find himself gossiped about at the Flore, subjected to public obloquy for having failed in his responsibilities. Niko Papatakis,
Tous les désespoirs sont permis,
pp. 260–61.

57
.
Beauvoir wrote to Sartre about “two sinister weeks due to a sickness of Olga's, with whom I was alone in Paris.” She could not permit herself to be more explicit. S de B to S, October 17, 1940,
Letters to Sartre,
p. 342. (Trans. modified.)

58
.
S to S de B, July 23, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 236.

59
.
S to S de B, July 28, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 237.

60
.
S to S de B, July 29, 1940, in
Quiet Moments,
p. 239.

61
.
S de B to S, March 14, 1941, in
Letters,
p. 372.

62
.
PL,
p. 521.

63
.
Ibid., p. 574.

64
.
Nathalie Sorokine's mother would describe the situation, and her daughter's difficult character, in the official complaint she made to the Board of Education in March 1942. Ingrid Galster, “Juin 43: Beauvoir est exclue de l'université. Retour sur une affaire classée,”
Contemporary French Civilization
(winter/spring 2001).

65
.
The hotel, which was at the corner of the Rue Berthe, has been replaced by an apartment building. The artist studios were named the Bâteau Lavoir.

66
.
S de B to S, March 14, 1941,
Letters,
p. 372.

67
.
S de B to S, January 20, 1941 and February 21, 1941, in
Letters,
p. 367 and pp. 371–72.

68
.
PL,
p. 576.

69
.
Ibid.

CHAPTER SIX: OCCUPIED PARIS

1
.
PL,
p. 581.

2
.
My interview with Dominique Desanti, Paris, August 27, 2003.

3
.
Beauvoir writes that Socialisme et Liberté was disbanded in October 1941. Dominique Desantiand Simone Debout Devouassoux, both members of the group, independently stated to me that the group continued until May or June 1942.

4
.
Dominique Desanti, “Sartre: Une leçonà une débutante en 1942,” in Ingrid Galster,
La Naissance du “Phénomène Sartre,” Raisons d'un succès (1938–1945)
(Paris: Seuil, 2001).

5
.
S to S de B, undated, 1941,
Quiet Moments,
p. 251. Beauvoir changed the name “Wanda” to “Tania” in the published letters.

6
.
Bair,
Simone de Beauvoir,
p. 231.

7
.
S de B,
A Very Easy Death
(New York: Random House, 1965), p. 36. (Trans. modified.)

8
.
Ibid., p. 36.

9
.
In Beauvoir's novel
The Blood of Others
(1945), Blomart, the Sartre character, tells the jealous young Hélène, “Listen, you know I'm not the least bit in love with Madeleine. Personally, I'd end our physical relations without the least regret.”

10
.
Adieux,
p. 312.

11
.
S de B to Nelson Algren, August 8, 1948,
A Transatlantic Love Affair
(New York: New Press, 1998), p. 208.

12
.
Sartre interviewed by Beauvoir, summer 1974, in
Adieux,
p. 302 and p. 314.

13
.
PL,
p. 606.

14
.
Ibid., p. 609.

15
.
Gerassi interview with Olga Kosakiewicz, May 9, 1973. Beinecke Library, Yale University.

16
.
Gerassi interview with Wanda Kosakiewicz, March 23, 1973. Beinecke Library, Yale University.

17
.
PL,
p. 574.

18
.
Sorokine's mother wrote this in her report to the Ministry of Education. Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir confirms that Sorokine slept with both Sartre and Bost. Beauvoir and Bost told her this independently.

19
.
Mouloudji paints an amusing portrait of Sorokine in the second volume of his memoirs,
La Fleur de l'âge,
p. 26ff. He writes that Sorokine was an aggressive seductress and an inveterate thief. She pursued him vigorously, and they spent the night in a hotel, for which he paid. The next morning she went off with the sheets, blanket, and pillow. He was embarrassed.

20
.
Galster, “Juin 43,” pp. 139–41, and Gibert Joseph,
Une Si Douce Occupation, Simonede Beauvoir et Jean-Paul Sartre 1940–1944,
Paris: Albin Michel, 1991.

21
.
Galster, “Juin 43,” p. 147.

22
.
What Madame Sorokine did not know was that in 1939, Bianca Bienenfeld's mother had also threatened Beauvoir with exposure to the Ministry of Education.

23
.
In April 1942, the same rector had tried to get Sartre suspended, but failed. Gibert Joseph,
Une Si Douce Occupation,
pp. 218–21.

24
.
Beauvoir wrote this on June 25, 1944, after Bourla's death, in unpublished notes: Sylvie Le Bon archives.

25
.
PL,
p. 626.

26
.
Today this is a very chic hotel, in the heart of the tourist area.

27
.
Sartre, “Paris sous l'Occupation,”
La France Libre
(London), no. 49, Nov. 15, 1944, pp. 9–18, reprint.
Situations, III
(Paris: Gallimard, 1949).

28
.
S to Barrault, July 9, 1942 in Ingrid Galster,
Sartre, Vichy et les intellectuels
(Paris: Harmattan, 2001), pp. 41–44.