Abstract
Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex was translated into Czech in 1966. This was the first translation of the book to be published in a socialist state.
As with many other translations during this period it was a compilation of selections, edited by the phenomenologist Jan Patočka, who in his postscript presented the book primarily within its philosophical context. The book, which was published in three editions within two years and reached a circulation of almost one hundred thousand, reaped substantial acclaim both among the lay and academic public.
The main debate about the book unfolded in the journal Literární noviny and Vlasta magazine, in which the contributors aired their views on the book from various ideological positions - phenomenology, Marxism, view of the women's press.