cfp.english.upenn.edu

“Beauvoir Reloaded: Possibilities and Dangers with 'The Second Sex”

41st Anniversary Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA April 7-11, 2010 Montreal, Quebec - Hilton Bonaventure

Like Godot, a proper translation of Simone de Beauvoir's 'The Second Sex' is never here, it is always 'still on the way.' Since it now appears that we may finally get the long-awaited new
translation, this would be a good time to discuss some of the possibilities -- and some of the dangers -- that the new translation will present. Some ideas, intended to spur possible topics but by no means to limit them:

* Two generations of Anglophone feminists have never really 'encountered' Beauvoir
* Will 'The Second Sex' be (re)discovered as a tool for feminist exploration?
* Let's be honest: there is much in 'The Second Sex' in the original French that
will be off-putting to feminists. Discuss.
* Beauvoir: a feminist who "did" existentialism? Or an existentialist who "did" feminism?

Please submit abstracts no later than September 30 2009 to:
jeng_steveg@hotmail.com