Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Beaver's Index

I've just been reading Simone de Beauvoir's letters to Sartre. She has a January birthday. January 9, 1908, to be exact.

An index, culled from letters to Sartre written during the period of January 1930 to September 1939, which is as far as I've gotten:

Number of crosswords done in French newsweeklies: 2
Number of meals recounted: have given up counting
Number of times tempted to play pinball: 2
Number of hours spent in cafes or on strolls: as many spent placating her two female lovers, which is to say seemingly innumerable
Number of times Portrait of a Lady is termed "not at all bad": 1
Number of times Snow White viewed at the cinema and described as being of "an apalling vulgarity": 1
Number of bread soups with weevils eaten: 1
Copies of Marie-Claire read: 1
Dreams about Maurice Chevalier confusing himself with Colette: 1