(edited by Pauline Henry-Tierney, Bloomsbury, 2025)
As part of their ‘Understanding Philosophy, Understanding Modernism Series’, contributions are sought for Bloomsbury’s new volume on Simone de Beauvoir. Based on a productive reciprocity of understanding, the aim of the series is to conceptualise the philosophical thinker more fully through the lens of literary and cultural modernism, and equally, to appreciate literary modernism better through the philosopher, in this case, Beauvoir.
As with other volumes in the series, this volume is structured in three parts.
Contributions are sought for all three, as follows:
Part 1: Conceptualising Beauvoir
(Contributions should be approx. 8,000 words)
Part 1 offers close readings of Beauvoir’s key philosophical texts. Each chapter, which will focus on one (or more) of the texts central to Beauvoir’s phenomenological, existentialist oeuvre, will provide a reading that both underlines the significance of the text(s), while offering a new interpretation of Beauvoirian thought in relation to contemporary concerns.
Part 2: Beauvoir and Aesthetics
(Contributions should be approx. 8,000 words)
Part 2 puts Beauvoir into dialogue with all aspects of modernist aesthetics, philosophy and culture. Contributions for this part will explore the continued relevance of Beauvoirian thought in contemporary modernist contexts, showcasing the new and exciting ways that her work brings fresh impetus to modernist expression. Chapters here may explore Beauvoir’s own plays and literary fiction, or similarly, explore the intersections between Beauvoirian thought and other works of modern literature, cinema, visual culture or dance.
Part 3: Glossary
(Contributions should be approx. 1,000 words)
Part 3 provides a glossary of Beauvoir’s key philosophical concepts. Via a series of mini-essays, each arranged around a single concept, these contributions will allow for sustained engagement with the multivalences that the term has inspired in and through the thinker.
250-word abstract (including indication of section 1, 2 or 3 for proposed contribution) and 50-word bio-note (including email and affiliation) due – 20th December 2023. Please send all correspondence to [email protected]
Notification of acceptance – 20th January 2024
Full chapters due – 1st May 2024
Anticipated publication of volume – Spring 2025