Focuses on Beauvoir's frequently neglected novels and short stories, "L'Invitee", "Les Mandarins", "Les Belles Images", and "La Femme rompue". This book demonstrates the extent to which Beauvoir's fiction undermines an ideologically patriarchal position on language. 'Certainly for readers accustomed to think of the author as a largely autobiographical and hence relatively realistic writer, these analyses open new perspectives, and Holland is successful in her avowed aim of making it more difficult to speak of 'Beauvoir's indifference to style.' ... this in an interesting and closely argued book which has a great many useful insights to offer.' New Zealand Journal of French Studies