Rachel Bespaloff (1895–1949) was a Ukrainian-French philosopher.Rachel Bespaloff
''New York Review of Books''

Life

Rachel Bespaloff came from a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family: her father was the

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

writer and activist Daniel Pasmanik. A disciple of

Lev Shestov Lev Isaakovich Shestov (russian: Лев Исаа́кович Шесто́в; 31 January .S. 13 February 1866 – 19 November 1938), born Yehuda Leib Shvartsman (russian: Иегуда Лейб Шварцман), was a Russian existentialist and ...

, Bespaloff took an increasingly critical distance from Shestov throughout the 1930s. She was one of the first French readers of

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

, and wrote on Kierkegaard,

Gabriel Marcel Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889 – 8 October 1973) was a French philosopher, playwright, music critic and leading Christian existentialist. The author of over a dozen books and at least thirty plays, Marcel's work focused on the modern ...

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed by P ...

, and

Julien Green Julien Green (September 6, 1900 – August 13, 1998) was an American writer who authored several novels (''The Dark Journey'', ''The Closed Garden'', ''Moira'', ''Each Man in His Darkness'', the ''Dixie'' trilogy, etc.), a four-volume autobiog ...

. In 1942 she left France for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, working for the French section of the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

before teaching French at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

. She committed suicide in 1949. Bespaloff's correspondence with

Daniel Halévy Daniel Halévy (12 December 1872 – 4 February 1962) was a French historian. Life The son of Ludovic Halévy, Daniel was born in and died in Paris. His family was of Jewish descent, but his parents were Protestant and he was brought up as a Pr ...

Boris de Schloezer Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name *:''See'': List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) * Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his d ...

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

and

Jean Wahl Jean André Wahl (; 25 May 188819 June 1974) was a French philosopher. Early career Wahl was educated at the École Normale Supérieure. He was a professor at the University of Paris, Sorbonne from 1936 to 1967, broken by World War II. He was in ...

has been posthumously published.

Works

* 'Sur la répétition chez Kierkegaard', ''Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Etranger'' (May–June 1934) * ''Cheminements et carrefours: Julien Green, André Malraux, Gabriel Marcel, Kierkegaard, Chestov devant Nietzsche'', 1938. * 'Notes sur les Etudes kierkegaardiennes de Jean Wahl', ''Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Etranger'' (June–July 1939), pp. 301–23. * 'The Twofold Relationship', ''Contemporary Jewish Record'', 6: 3 (June 1943), pp. 244–53. * ''On the Iliad''. Translated by Mary McCarthy, with an introduction by

Hermann Broch Hermann Broch (; 1 November 1886 – 30 May 1951) was an Austrian writer, best known for two major works of modernist fiction: '' The Sleepwalkers'' (''Die Schlafwandler,'' 1930–32) and '' The Death of Virgil'' (''Der Tod des Vergil,'' 1945). ...

. Pantheon Books. The Bollingen Series IX, Washington, 1947. * 'L'instant et la liberte chez Montaigne', ''Deucalion'' 3 (1950), pp.
Le monde du condamné à mort
''Esprit'', January 1950. Translated as 'The World of the Man Condemned to Death', in

Germaine Brée Germaine Brée (1907–2001) was a French-American literary scholar, who wrote extensively on Marcel Proust, Andre Gide, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Life Born in Paris, Germaine Brée grew up in the English-speaking Channel Islands. Afte ...

, ed., ''Camus: A Collection of Critical Essays'', Prentice-Hall, 1962. * 'Lettres au R. P. Gaston Fessard', ''Deucalion'' 5 (1955), pp. 65–107. * ''Lettres à Jean Wahl, 1937-1947: Sur le fond le plus déchiqueté de l'histoire'', ed. Monique Jutrin. Paris: Claire Paulhan, 2003.

References

1895 births 1949 deaths 1949 suicides French women philosophers Jewish philosophers 20th-century French philosophers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France French emigrants to the United States French people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Mount Holyoke College faculty People of the United States Office of War Information 20th-century French women Suicides by gas Suicides in Massachusetts {{France-philosopher-stub