La Batarde

An obsessive and revealing self-portrait of a remarkable woman humiliated by the circumstances of her birth and by her physical appearance, La Bâtarde relates Violette Leduc’s long search for her own identity through a series of agonizing and passionate love affairs with both men and women. When first published, La Bâtarde earned Violette Leduc comparisons to Jean Genet for the frank depiction of her sexual escapades and immoral behavior. A confession that contains portraits of several famous French authors, this book is more than just a scintillating memoir―like that of Henry Miller, Leduc’s brilliant writing style and attention to language transform this autobiography into a work of art.

Derek Coltman has translated such French works as Marie-Claire Blais s "A Season in the Life of Emmanuel", Jean Varenne s "Yoga and the Hindu Tradition", and Violette Leduc s "La Batarde." He lives in England.

French Existentialist philosopher, intellectual, and social theorist Simone de Beauvoir (1908 1986) was best known for her writings on Existentialist ethics and feminist Existentialism, as well as for her infamous polyamorous relationship with fellow French Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre. World-renowned for her metaphysical novels "She Came to Stay" and "The Mandarins", de Beauvoir also wrote a number of essays on philosophy, politics, and social issues. Her diverse writings also include biographies, as well as her four-volume autobiography, made up of "Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter", " The Prime of Life", " Force of Circumstance", and" All Said and Done". In addition to her philosophical writing, de Beauvoir was an ardent feminist, her most famous philosophical work being "The Second Sex", which is consistently referenced in the study of feminism.


Levy was born in South Africa.