| Author | Solveiga Daugirdaitė |
|---|---|
| Title | Were Western Intellectuals Blind? Simone de Beauvoir on her Visits to the USSR |
| Keywords | Simone de Beauvoir, travel writing, USSR, left-wing intellectuals |
| Pages | 431-436 |
| Full text | |
| Volume | 35 |
The article focuses on the part of the fourth autobiographic book by French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir Tout compte fait (English: All Said and Done, 1974) wherein she talks about her and Jean-Paul Sartre’s trips to the USSR in the 60s. The author of the article questions the widespread opinion that the Western leftist intellectuals, because of their political leanings, were unable to understand the realities of the Communist regime. The article concludes that Beauvoir was able to see the USSR critically and the image of political and cultural life she presents in her book is generally consistent with the opinion of the liberal intellectuals of the USSR of that time.