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Note from the Editors

Peter Byrne told us some time back that moving was like experiencing a slow death. It is a process that began over three years ago, when co-editors Jan Baughman and Gilles d'Aymery came to the realization that their living arrangement -- a rental apartment in San Francisco and a house on 6.5 acres in the hills near Boonville, Mendocino County -- was not working for myriad reasons. It was not practical -- too much living space with 1,200 square feet plus 2,500 square feet for two individuals; a lot of maintenance; a lot of driving; and worst of all, here was a couple that was together just two days a week. This could not last. A bird needs two wings to fly. So, we went house hunting in San Francisco and the Bay Area until finding a 1,560-square-foot house with a one-car garage and a tiny garden in a quiet neighborhood near San Francisco State University. Obviously a major downsizing was in order. Furniture, clothes, books, tools, etc. had to go, mostly given away, week after week. Jan left the rental apartment and we prepared the Boonville house, which was put on the market early summer. It is finally sold. We must vacate the place next Tuesday.

To make a long story short -- Gilles d'Aymery will elaborate on the experience in the future -- it has not been possible to put to bed a February 10 edition. We are sorry, but there were too many irons in the fire. Instead we chose to republish some cultural oldies but goodies. First, five articles about Simone de Beauvoir dated February 2008, and second, another five articles on George Bernard Shaw dated March 2009. (You will note the piece by the late Isidor Saslav, who was an admirer of Shaw and, with his wife, Ann, collected over 8,000 items related to GBS, perhaps the largest private collection in the world.)

We hope you enjoy this cultural feast.



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Special Simone de Beauvoir (originally published on February 11, 2008)

Karen Moller:  Simone de Beauvoir One Hundred Years After Her Birth

Simone de Beauvoir was a literary influence on the beat generation, but she was ahead of her time with her anti-conformist, feminist attitude within a movement in which women were far from liberated.   More...

 

Marie Rennard:  The Unfinished Business Of Simone de Beauvoir

While Simone de Beauvoir led the fight for legal abortion and women's rights that subsequent generations enjoy, so long as she is remembered for her body and not her brain, the fight is far from over.   More...

 

Gilles d'Aymery:  The Mother Of Us All

Gilles d'Aymery conveys the impact of Simone de Beauvoir on his life: in the face of illegal abortion, abuse, and the oppression of women, Beauvoir revealed that another world was possible.   More...

 

Peter Byrne:  Not Shutting Up For A Second: Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)

On the one-hundredth anniversary of Simone de Beauvoir's birth, Peter Byrne examines her incongruous relationship with American writer Nelson Algren.   More...

 

Louis Proyect:  Simone de Beauvoir's The Coming of Age

Simone de Beauvoir's The Coming of Age is one of the grand narratives of the French existentialist movement that remains relevant today as another generation struggles with aging.   More...

 

 
A George Bernard Shaw Retrospective (first published on March 23, 2009)

Isidor Saslav:  How I found Shaw

The political and literary conversion of a teenager: How Isidor Saslav discovered George Bernard Shaw and became a lifelong collector of everything Shavian he could get unearth.   More...

 

Peter Byrne:  GBS: The Future Of A Rebel

Peter Byrne tells the history of the great rebel, George Bernard Shaw, whose rebellion was rooted in the home, extended to school, and landed on the stage, making his mark with his socioeconomic views along the way.   More...

 

Charles Marowitz:  Probing GBS

Is George Bernard Shaw passé? Charles Marowitz answers the question, as he considers the Colony Theatre's revival of Candida and its deceptively simple story in the context of modern feminism and equality.   More...

 

Louis Proyect:  A Guide To G. B. Shaw On Home Video

Louis Proyect challenges whether George Bernard Shaw's plays still have the capacity to entertain and inspire by reviewing a selection of BBC productions based on his work.   More...

 

Art Shay:  Giftless Amateurs Bug Shaw And Shay

Art Shay -- like George Bernard Shaw -- doesn't suffer amateurs lightly. Shay shares anecdotes of the amateurs that hounded each of them.   More...

 

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THE COMPANION OF THINKING PEOPLE

SWANS - ISSN: 1554-4915
URL: http://www.swans.com/library/past_issues/2014/140210.html
Created: February 10, 2014