Misunderstanding in Moscow
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  • Published: 4 April 2023
  • ISBN: 9781784878252
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 128
  • RRP: $22.99
Categories:

Misunderstanding in Moscow

Formats & editions
Paperback
4 Apr 2023
Audiobook
9 Feb 2023
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Previously unpublished in the UK, this is Simone de Beauvoir's captivating novel about long-term relationships, getting older and how to live a good life.

A captivating novella about long-term relationships, getting older and how to live a good life, by the great Simone de Beauvoir.

Nicole and André, a retired French couple, take a summer holiday to Russia. It is the 1960s and Russia is a beautiful, complicated place. Their guide is Macha, André's daughter from a previous relationship - a woman they both love. Adventure, inspiration, good food and good vodka are promised.

Once thrilled by their romance, Nicole and André have now become too used to each other. Both harbour a growing feeling of not being fully understood - of being alone. Father and daughter engage in the grand debates of East-West relations, nationalism and socialism. But getting older, long-term relationships and how to enjoy life turn out to be the more pressing issues.
  • Published: 4 April 2023
  • ISBN: 9781784878252
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 128
  • RRP: $22.99
Categories:

About the author

Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. In 1929 she became the youngest person ever to obtain the agrégation in philosophy at the Sorbonne, placing second to Jean-Paul Sartre. She taught at the lycées at Marseille and Rouen from 1931–1937, and in Paris from 1938–1943. After the war, she emerged as one of the leaders of the existentialist movement, working with Sartre on Les Temps Mordernes. The author of several books including The Mandarins (1957) which was awarded the Prix Goncourt, de Beauvoir was one of the most influential thinkers of her generation. She died in 1986.

Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier have lived in Paris for over forty years and are both graduates of Rutgers University, New Jersey. Borde was on the faculty of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and has been chair and vice-chair of American Democrats Abroad. Malovany-Chevallier was a full- time faculty member at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and continues to teach American literature. They have been translating books and articles on social science, art and feminist literature for twenty-five years and have jointly authored numerous books in French on subjects ranging from grammar to politics to American cooking.

Also by Simone de Beauvoir

The Second Sex
The Inseparables
The Blood of Others
What Is Existentialism?
The Prime of Life
The Second Sex (Vintage Feminism Short Edition)
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
See all

Praise for Misunderstanding in Moscow

Having experimented in life, De Beauvoir also experimented with literary form, finding new ways to write her autobiography and her philosophy simultaneously. Each of her novels, memoirs and works of philosophy was a new venture in this

Guardian

Simone de Beauvoir is a feminist icon. She didn't just write the feminist book, she wrote the movement's bible, The Second Sex

Guardian

A beautiful novel, depicting how aging intersects with life and love. Full marks

Lyransnoblesser, Sweden

The French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir has drawn a nuanced portrait of an older couple

8weekly cultuur, Netherlands

Born from the challenge of transmitting ideas and real experiences into a story, Misunderstanding in Moscow relates the atmosphere of the cold war and the growing anxiety of aging

Il manifesto, Italy

The concision of Misunderstanding in Moscow shows the psychological lucidity that distinguishes the best literary works of Simone de Beauvoir

Observador, Portugal

Touching

Daily Mail