De Beauvoir is one of the major French authors and ‘Big thinkers’ of the mid-late 20th century. Une morte tres douce is her little-known real-life masterpiece of the closing six weeks of her mother's life, following a fall at the mother’s Paris apartment. Despite their lengthy cold, fraught relationship, this lived-experience narrative has moving scenes about the demise of a close loved one. This marvellous work covers themes, to resonate for those of us who have had active care for loved ones and ageing parents.

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

SUGGESTED READING

• Une morte tres douce (A Very Easy Death), 1964, Pantheon NY, ISBN 0394728998
• Memoir of a Dutiful Daughter, 2005, ISBN 978006082519
• What is Existentialism?, 2020, Penguin Random House, ISBN 9780241475232

COURSE OUTLINE

• Simone’s engaging writing style in the book – with components of narrative clarity, astounding detail, personal emotional turmoil with philosophical reflection
• Themes – their cold mother-daughter relationship, Simone’s compromised ethics as her mother’s daughter-carer, and the then societal constraints around dying in an aged-care hostel
• Several writing exercises to critique, contrast and discuss selected paragraphs – about affective / effective writing

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Come to their own view about this forgotten masterpiece by Simone de Beauvoir on the universal human experience
2. Recognise, as Simone often reiterated, that her body-of-writings extends beyond the trail-blazing best-seller The Second Sex.