[Vwoolf] Simone de Beauvoir interview in the Paris Review

[Laura Zander]

The Paris Review republished the 1965 interview with Simone de Beauvoir
which was quite lovely and includes a mention of Woolf.
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4444/simone-de-beauvoir-the-art-of-fiction-no-35-simone-de-beauvoir

DE BEAUVOIR ....Later, of course, I read the Brontës and the books of
Virginia Woolf: *Orlando, Mrs. Dalloway*. I don’t care much for *The Waves*,
but I’m very, very fond of her book on Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

INTERVIEWER What about her journal?

DE BEAUVOIR It interests me less. It’s too literary. It’s fascinating, but
it’s foreign to me. She’s too concerned with whether she’ll be published,
with what people will say about her. I liked very much “A Room of One’s
Own” in which she talks about the situation of women. It’s a short essay,
but it hits the nail on the head. She explains very well why women can’t
write. Virginia Woolf is one of the women writers who have interested me
most. Have you seen any photos of her? An extraordinarily lonely face . . .
In a way, she interests me more than Colette. Colette is, after all, very
involved in her little love affairs, in household matters, laundry, pets.
Virginia Woolf is much broader.

INTERVIEWER Did you read her books in translation?

DE BEAUVOIR No, in English. I read English better than I speak it.
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