Status
Checked out
Publication
Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ) (1999), 384 pages
Description
A portrait of 1940s America by a French writer, eg. "The constipated girl smiles a loving smile at the lemon juice that relieves her intestines. In the subway, in the streets, on magazine pages, these smiles pursue me like obsessions. I read on a sign in a drugstore, 'Not to grin is a sin.' Everyone obeys the order, the system. 'Cheer up! Take it easy.' Optimism is necessary for the country's social peace and economic prosperity."
User reviews
LibraryThing member et.carole
Read in contrast to Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, this book is a marked improvement. It pursues local knowledge with an awareness of the limitations of a four month timespan and a foreign perspective. It attempts the grand scheme and understanding that I wanted from Travels. Assembled from her
The translation was luminous, and though I cannot access the original, Carol Cosman's English prose suggests that de Beauvoir's writing has the charms of vivacity and specificity. Cosman's work was especially brilliant in the moments where de Beauvoir first encounters different landscapes, and where she compares the American scenes to places she loves and knows at home.
The scope of this book includes rather magnified insights into New York and Chicago, in addition to a survey of the nation. The narrator travels west through Niagara all the way to California for a stay with friends in San Francisco, and a road trip along that coast and through Nevada. The return route is through the South, portraying an interesting perspective on the racial conflicts of the time while careful to present a disclaimer to the effect of being an outsider and not having a true insight to the issue, which is interesting in its similarity to Steinbeck's story. I need another perspective on this subject from this time period.
The narrative is bookended by de Beauvoir's experiences in New York and Chicago, and it is clearly with this vibrant urban culture that she most identifies. The life which she establishes for herself and contrasts to her well-loved life in Paris is an interesting exercise in transplanting an intellectual life.
This story was endearing for the way it clearly set out its limitations in the preface, then defied these to write a travelogue that cut deep rather than running wide and shallow across American life. By the time de Beauvoir made her 4 pages of generalizations on Americans at the end of the book, the reader felt that she had credibility enough to make these assertions and empathy enough to apply them to the nation's character, rather than the virtue of individuals.
Show More
notes during the trip, it even takes a more detailed and personal approach to the landscapes that de Beauvoir meets. The translation was luminous, and though I cannot access the original, Carol Cosman's English prose suggests that de Beauvoir's writing has the charms of vivacity and specificity. Cosman's work was especially brilliant in the moments where de Beauvoir first encounters different landscapes, and where she compares the American scenes to places she loves and knows at home.
The scope of this book includes rather magnified insights into New York and Chicago, in addition to a survey of the nation. The narrator travels west through Niagara all the way to California for a stay with friends in San Francisco, and a road trip along that coast and through Nevada. The return route is through the South, portraying an interesting perspective on the racial conflicts of the time while careful to present a disclaimer to the effect of being an outsider and not having a true insight to the issue, which is interesting in its similarity to Steinbeck's story. I need another perspective on this subject from this time period.
The narrative is bookended by de Beauvoir's experiences in New York and Chicago, and it is clearly with this vibrant urban culture that she most identifies. The life which she establishes for herself and contrasts to her well-loved life in Paris is an interesting exercise in transplanting an intellectual life.
This story was endearing for the way it clearly set out its limitations in the preface, then defied these to write a travelogue that cut deep rather than running wide and shallow across American life. By the time de Beauvoir made her 4 pages of generalizations on Americans at the end of the book, the reader felt that she had credibility enough to make these assertions and empathy enough to apply them to the nation's character, rather than the virtue of individuals.
Show Less
Subjects
Original language
French
Physical description
384 p.; 5.12 inches
ISBN
0753808595 / 9780753808597