Beauvoir translation

Beauvoir translation

I was moved to see Meg and Jo put on poor hazelnut-coloured poplin dresses to go to an afternoon party where all the other children were dressed in silk; they were taught, like I was, that culture and morality prevails over wealth; their modest household had, like mine, an exceptional je-ne-sais-quoi. I identified myself fervently with Jo, the intellectual. Blunt and sharp, Jo perched herself at the top of the trees to read; she was much more ‘boyish’ and daring than me; but I shared her horror of sewing and housework, and her love of books. She wrote: in order to imitate her I reconnected with my past and composed two or three short stories. I don’t know if I dreamed of resuscitating my former friendship with Jacques, or if, more generally, I wished that the border which closes off the world of boys was gotten rid of, but the relations of Jo and Laurie had a special place in my heart. Later, I did not doubt, they would marry; it could thus be possible that maturity fulfils the promises of childhood instead of betraying it: this idea filled me with hope. But what delighted me above all is the decisive bias that Louisa Alcott showed to Jo. I hated, as I said, that the condescension of the grown-ups equalled the child species. The qualities and flaws that authors lent to their young heroes seemed to be, usually, accidents without consequence: upon growing, they all became good people; moreover, they only distinguished themselves from one another by their morality: never by their intelligence; it would have been said that, from this point of view, age equalised them all. On the contrary, Jo prevailed over her sisters, who are more virtuous or more pretty, by her eagerness to know, by the strength of her thoughts.

...