America Day by Day

In Simone de Beauvoir's, America Day by Day, she travels through America in the late 1940's, post WWII. She documents her observations and experiences as she takes a cross-country journey, stopping in popular U.S. locations such as New York, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Hollywood, and San Francisco. Beauvoir's travels help her to understand the diversity that embodies America. America is considered `the land of opportunity,' a country where the inhabitants are granted certain freedoms. Thus, Beauvoir whole-heartedly embraces her first experience as an American. Intrigued by the American lifestyle, she wanders, looking for her next new experience, her next new adventure. The former Catholic school girl experiences a spectrum of American culture; she dabbles into alcohol and drugs but also incorporates touring museums and lecturing at various, distinguished women's colleges into her travels. Beauvoir almost seems reckless in how she behaves in a country completely foreign to her, but the way in which she free-spiritedly follows her instincts is very much admirable. She is very wide-eyed and excited about America, but she also expresses her irritation as she passionately acknowledges her opinions on topics like racism and segregation, education, American women, democracy, and communism. "Hardly a day has passed that I haven't been dazzled by America; hardly a day that I haven't been disappointed. I don't know if I could be happy living here; I am sure I'll miss it passionately" (382).

French existentialist, Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86), was both enchanted by and highly critical of life in America. She was comforted by American cemeteries which, she observed, have more personality than some towns, and offer a final escape from the banality of daily life in America (p. 80). Originally published in France as L'AMERIQUE AU JOUR LE JOUR in 1948, AMERICA DAY BY DAY details the four months she spent traveling the United States anonymously (but with a letter of introduction from her companion, Jean-Paul Sartre), from New York to Los Angeles and back, by car, train, and Greyhound bus, while lecturing at colleges and universities along the way. Published in the form of her January 25, 1947 through May 20, 1947 travel journal, AMERICA DAY BY DAY reveals de Beauvoir's fascinating insights into post-war American culture, including its consumerism and "superabundance" ("too much noise, too much perfume, too much heat, too much luxury," p. 118) and obsession with big cars and celebrity, its church services, politics, fashion, movies, and music, and tourist attractions like Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas. "Many things would change among Americans," she writes about American psychoanalysis, "if they were willing to accept that there is unhappiness on earth and that unhappiness is not a priori a crime" (p. 64). Always fiercely independent and intelligent, de Beauvoir also reveals her perspective on American women, black/white relations, intellectuals, education, and college students in her wandering, thought-provoking travel memoir. Highly recommended. G. Merritt

I never met Simone but the visit to America that resulted in this book ended the day I was born and we knew people in common, including Nelson Algren. This book is fun. We think of Simone as the woman who initiated the second wave of feminism with her book, "The Second Sex;" as the companion of Jean-Paul Sartre, a man plagued by lobsters and his own sense of self; as the globe-trotting political activist. Some may know her as the author of the frightening novel, "She Came To Stay." The Simone who wrote this book was the best part of Simone de Beauvoir. The book is a snapshot of America, entering the center stage of world power, taken by a native of a country whose time of leadership has passed. It is also the story of a middle-aged woman falling in love. This book was unavailable for many years but it is important both as a view of America in mid-century and as an insight into one of the most important women of the 20th century.

An excellent place to begin seeing America through critical eyes. A companion piece to this is Henry Miller's "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare."

Before reading it, I was concerned that the writing might be pretentious and annoying. But she essentially came here with an open mind and maintained it throughout her stay. She portrayed 1940's America beautifully.