Written between the age of eighteen and twenty-one, the entries in the third volume of Diary of a Philosophy Student take readers into Simone de Beauvoirs thoughts while illuminating the people and ideas swirling around her. The pages offer rare insights into Beauvoirs intellectual development; her early experiences with love, desire, and freedom; and relationships with friends like Elisabeth Zaza Lacoin, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It also presents Beauvoirs shocking account of Jean-Paul Sartres sexual assault of her during their first sexual encounter--a revelation certain to transform views of her life and philosophy.

In addition, the editors include a wealth of important supplementary material. Barbara Klaw provides a detailed consideration of the Diarys role in the development of Beauvoirs writing style by exploring her use of metanarrative and other literary techniques, part of a process of literary creation that saw Beauvoir use the notebooks to cultivate her talent. Margaret A. Simonss essay places the assault by Sartre within an appraisal of Beauvoirs complicated legacy for #MeToo while suggesting readers engage with the diary through the lens of trauma.