Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
Simone de Beauvoir
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
The first volume of Beauvoir's memoirs, from a bourgeois Catholic childhood in Paris to intellectual independence at the Sorbonne.
Read our takeA Very Easy Death
Simone de Beauvoir
A Very Easy Death
A brief account of Beauvoir's mother's final illness and of a daughter confronting the body, care, memory, and grief.
- 1964
About Simone de Beauvoir
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeAfter Françoise de Beauvoir falls and enters the hospital, doctors discover cancer. Simone de Beauvoir and her sister Hélène care for their mother through the final weeks while Beauvoir reexamines their difficult family history and the medical management of dying.
The story, in more detail
The book stays close to practical events: hospital rooms, tests, pain, nursing, food, visits, and decisions about what to tell a patient. Beauvoir's philosophical reputation does not protect her from the shock of seeing her mother as a vulnerable body and as a person separate from the role of mother.
The title carries deliberate tension. The death may look medically manageable from outside, but no death is easy for the person living it or for those who must understand the end of a relationship that formed them.
The life covered
Françoise de Beauvoir is hospitalized after a fall, and an operation reveals advanced cancer.
Her daughters organize care while doctors use the period's paternalistic practice of withholding the diagnosis from the patient.
Daily attention to the body brings back memories of conflict, dependence, and love, making the final weeks both immediate and retrospective.
Why we recommend it
Why it matters
It is Beauvoir's shortest and most direct memoir, with little background required.
Where it fits
Read it after Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter if you want to understand how the mother-daughter relationship changes across the two books.
What this book explores
Timeline
1964
Gallimard publishes Une Mort très douce in Paris.
English editions
Translations publish the work under the title A Very Easy Death; dates and wording vary by edition.
Book editions
Paperback
- Paperback
- Gallimard
- 1964
Reader reviews
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Read our takeA Very Easy Death: frequently asked questions
What is A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir about?
After Françoise de Beauvoir falls and enters the hospital, doctors discover cancer. Simone de Beauvoir and her sister Hélène care for their mother through the final weeks while Beauvoir reexamines their difficult family history and the medical management of dying.
When was A Very Easy Death published?
Gallimard first published Une Mort très douce in French in 1964.
Should I read A Very Easy Death first?
Yes. A Very Easy Death is one of the clearest starting points for Simone de Beauvoir.