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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Entre l’admiration et la culpabilité : aspects de l’amitié dans les "Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée"

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The character of Elisabeth Mabille, a childhood friend nicknamed “Zaza” becomes symbolic in Simone de Beauvoir’s Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter. Her influence on the writer and her views seems decisive. For the latter, the literary recreation of her friend is a kind of catharsis. Beauvoir transposes the tragic story of Mabille to show the complexity of their relationship and the origin of her calling to be a writer. Through an autobiographical perspective she “resurrects” the prematurely deceased friend to rehabilitate herself and make up for her neglect. This portrayal of Zaza highlights the multidimensionality of friendship and courage of a young woman who paid the highest price in her fight with own family, middle-class conventions, and a traditional system of values. It also shows the evolution of Beauvoir, who by analysing the twists and turns of friendship takes stock of her own life while stressing the need for emancipation.