She Came to Stay: Simone de Beauvoir and Dorothy Parker

Simone de Beauvoir was born and lived in Paris and rose to prominence in the 1940s while Dorothy Parker lived in New York city and began her writing career in 1914 when she sold her first poem to Vanity Fair. Although these outstanding women shared very different styles and lives they represent two of the strongest female voices of their generations.
 

Simone de Beauvoir, an important figure in both the existentialist and feminist movements, was born in Paris in 1908. Following an education in a Catholic girls’ school she entered the Sorbonne in 1926 where she studied philosophy and literature. Her first book, entitled She Came to Stay or L’invitée, was published in 1943. The novel was said to have been written as an act of revenge towards Olga Kosakievicz – to whom the book was dedicated. The story goes that the novel also had a deeply negative impact on her long-term relationship with the philosopher John Paul Sartre, which began in the 1920s. This relationship was hugely important throughout de Beauvoir’s life; both writers made a huge dent in the world of philosophy and political thought throughout the middle section of the 20th century.

De Beauvoir is most famous for her writing on feminist issues, particularly the publication of The Second Sex, which opened a whole new arena of thought and was a landmark account of women’s oppression and their role placed in comparison to men. The core principle of the work was based on a somewhat existentialist idea of women not being born as women but becoming women after their birth. Her criticism was that women were defined as ‘the other’ compared to men - rather than equal in their own right. Her writings on feminism became very influential in the years that followed, in the lead up to the events of 1968 and the changes in feminism thereafter

In 1958 the Parisian philosopher began the first of four volumes chronicling her life, beginning with an account of her early years entitled Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter. This collection of writing, dating from 1958 to 1972, not only chronicled her life but a hugely important era in Paris. Simone de Beauvoir died in 1986 and was buried next to her lifelong partner Sartre.

Dorothy Parker was also one of the most remarkable writers of her generation. Born in New Jersey in 1893 as Dorothy Rothschild, the author - best known for her wit and sharp writing - suffered a tragic childhood; losing her mother when she was five and her father at 20. She earned a living playing the piano for a dancing school, until a poem she had written was published in Vanity Fair in 1914. Parker became a prolific writer of verse, short stories and reviews. Her first in-house job came shortly after this when she was appointed as editorial assistant at Vogue and, subsequently, she took a position as a staff writer for Vanity Fair two years later, taking over from P.G. Woodhouse as drama critic.

It was through her involvement with The Algonquin Round Table and her contributions to The New Yorker that Parker gained the most significant acclaim. At the same time she entered into her first marriage to Edwin Pond Parker II - which was short-lived. Her second marriage to Alan Campbell, an actor and screenwriter, was certainly more significant. The pair wrote screenplays together in Hollywood, with notable success. Although Parker divorced Campbell in 1947 they remarried in 1950 and remained so until his death in 1963. Together with Robert Carson they wrote the script for the 1937 movie A Star is Born, which was subsequently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing – Screenplay.

Dorothy Parker made a real contribution to literature in the 20th century and is best remembered as being a significantly female voice in a literary world that was driven by and mostly composed of men. Like de Beauvoir, she became highly involved in the politics of the time and was known as a civil libertarian. She was outspoken about her left-wing views – sometimes to great controversy. Parker died of a heart attack, alone in the hotel she chose to spend her final years in, continuously writing. She left her estate to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation.

The essential link between Parker and de Beauvoir was their representation of the female voice in an era when the literary world was still mostly populated by men. Both women strove for empowerment and change. De Beauvoir’s ideas were very significant during the second wave of feminism, when considerable changes were finally made. Parker existed in a world where every move she made was equal in power to the male authors she associated with. To make their voices heard these writers stood side by side with the most significant male authors of the era and rose to equal acclaim and prominence. A key factor of their continued success is the timeless quality of their writing and both will be remembered for their freshness of style and originality.

Originally published in Verbal Magazine February 2009