The Woman Destroyed. The Age of Discretion. The Monologue.

"The Woman Destroyed" (1968) was published in Bulgarian with the Colibri logo in 2007, and here it is, a generation later, reappearing, now as part of the publishing house's Pearl Series, in the very natural company of two other equally ruthlessly insightful, self-reflexive novellas - "The Age of Discretion" and "Monologue". The three works were published in the original, united in a collection with the Gallimard logo, but they have only now appeared together in Bulgarian in a translation by Rumyana Ml. Stancheva.

With subtle psychologism, Simone de Beauvoir talks about the way we perceive time, about the disproportions in love and the traps of habit, about the cracks in communication and the resulting wounds, not forgetting to weave in the general theme of gender roles and the freedom of identity. The ideological charge of "The Age of Discretion" is in sync with the philosophy of existentialism - the thesis of the immanent freedom of human nature, the prerequisite of which is the elimination of suffering. Death plays a leading role in the short story "Monologue", the most frenetic and frantic work in the collection. Here, introspection is achieved through the literary technique of stream of consciousness, and there are also cynical notes. The entire life of the main character remains riveted to a June Tuesday, when she finds her 17-year-old daughter dead after deliberate abuse of sleeping pills. A sparkling illustration of the existentialist thesis about the woman in crisis, "The Woman Destroyed" is still among Beauvoir's most widely read works today, because in a confessional tone it illuminates the intimate corners of the female psyche.

This edition includes an exclusive illustration by Theodore Ushev, and the artwork was done by artist Ivo Rafailov.