All Men Are Mortal

Raymond Fosca, an Italian nobleman born in the thirteenth century, drank an elixir that made him immortal, and he tells his story to Régine, an actress who wants to be remembered. He has lived through centuries of wars, empires and revolutions, trying to shape history, and he has watched everyone he loved die. Simone de Beauvoir uses his experience to ask what it means to live forever, and whether human actions have meaning if time never ends.

Readers of philosophical fiction and existentialist thought will find a novel of ideas that uses a fantasy device. It suits those who want to see Beauvoir's ethics in story form.

Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

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