The Changing Images of Simone de Beauvoir in Norway

Abstract

The ways in which the French author and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) has been portrayed in Norwegian print media have undergone significant changes since she was first introduced to the Norwegian reading public in the 1940s. But how—and why—did her image evolve? This article explores the interplay between the words and phrases used to depict de Beauvoir in Norwegian print media and her seminal essay Le deuxième sexe (1949) and different translations in Norway. By analysing how de Beauvoir is depicted, I aim to produce a better understanding of her multiple and changing images in Norway, and to show how they may be related to the different translations of her best-known work and to her changing status. The transformation of de Beauvoir—from being considered outdated and dependent on Sartre during the 1940s and 1950s, to being highly valued and recognized as an author and memorialist, significant philosopher, and popular feminist icon at the turn of the millennium—is partly a result of the different translations of her major work. At the same time, it could be claimed that her changing image prepared the ground for the translations.