"Mandarins" is one of the most famous novels of the XX century. the pinnacle of the work of Simone de Beauvoir, a famous writer, philosopher, “an exceptional woman who left an imprint on all our time” (F.) Mitterrand). The events described in the book are in one way or another connected with the collapse of the hopes of the French intelligentsia born during the Resistance years. To more fully represent the post-war era, the author introduces many characters into the narrative, the main of which are writers of left views Henri Perron and Robert Dubray (their prototypes became A. Camus and J. -P. Sartre). Although the main intrigue is a quarrel, and then the reconciliation of these two outstanding personalities, an important place in the plot is given to Anna, Dubrei's wife - in this image, the features of Simone de Beauvoir herself are easily guessed. Much of what the writer told in her best, award-winning work, finds an explanation in the female fate as such and is associated with the position of women in the modern world. The novel, for several decades considered a reference book of Western intellectuals, finally becomes the property of the Russian reader.