Mirror of Obedience

The Poems and Selected Prose of Simone Weil

Philip Wilson editor Silvia Caprioglio Panizza editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:10th Aug '23

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Mirror of Obedience cover

The first English translation of the poetry and literary works of Simone Weil, one of the most important female thinkers of the 20th century.

Simone Weil (1909-1943) was one of the foremost French philosophers of the 20th century; a mystic, activist, and writer whose profound work continues to intrigue and inspire today. Mirror of Obedience collects together Weil's poetry and autobiographical writings translated into English for the first time. It offers a rare glimpse into a more personal and introspective Weil than we usually encounter. She was writing and re-working her poems until the end of her life and in a letter from London to her parents, dated 22 January 1943, she expressed the wish for her verses to appear together in print in chronological order, a wish which this volume honours. Weil was a thinker who wrote with discipline and spareness and cherished the poetic form for its power to compress language and distill meaning. In these poems and literary writings, we see her own efforts to craft poems as essential expressions of thought, bringing into view another aspect of Weil’s quest for beauty and truth.

Weil cherished the poetic form for the way it compresses language, distills thought, and conveys ultimate paradoxes of existence. This bilingual French-English edition of Weil’s original poetry opens new access to her lifelong quest for beauty and truth. Expert commentary situates the nuanced translations within her lifework – an illuminating volume that makes a nice gift! * Lissa McCullough, Professor, California State University, USA, and Author of The Religious Philosophy of Simone Weil (2014) *
In accessible, reliable, and learned ways, Silvia Caprioglio Panizza and Philip Wilson continue to enrich the bounty of our knowledge of Weil’s literary side and its role in her overall philosophy. Their trustworthy translations and discerning commentaries reveal new vistas in Weil’s thought. A perceptive and engaging advance in Weil scholarship — bravo! * Ronald K. L. Collins, Editor of Attention, USA *

ISBN: 9781350250673

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

200 pages