Focuses on Beauvoir's frequently neglected novels and short stories, "L'Invitee", "Les Mandarins", "Les Belles Images", and "La Femme rompue". This book demonstrates the extent to which Beauvoir's fiction undermines an ideologically patriarchal position on language.

Alison Holland's study focuses on the writer's frequently neglected novels and short stories, including L'Invitée, Les Mandarins, Les Belles Images, and La Femme rompue. Illuminating the density and rich complexity of Beauvoir's style, Holland demonstrates the extent to which Beauvoir's fiction undermines an ideologically patriarchal position on language. Her re-evaluation of Beauvoir as a fiction writer makes an important contribution to the wider debate on madness and literature.

'Certainly for readers accustomed to think of the author as a largely autobiographical and hence relatively realistic writer, these analyses open new perspectives, and Holland is successful in her avowed aim of making it more difficult to speak of 'Beauvoir's indifference to style.' ... this in an interesting and closely argued book which has a great many useful insights to offer.' New Zealand Journal of French Studies