The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of Religion

The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil explores the enduring influence of Simone Weil's thought and life on Anglophone literature, focusing on her appeal to women writers and the challenges of her ethic of self-emptying attention. It highlights the literary conversations of dedicated writers who have devoted decades to Weil, including Adrienne Rich, Annie Dillard, and Mary Gordon, and examines how writing to, of, and in the tradition of Weil has helped them grapple with the linked harms and possibilities of religious belief, self-giving attention, and moral seriousness in late modernity.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 23 April 2024
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Simone Weil (1909–1943) is a French philosopher-mystic-activist who has been both passionately admired and scornfully dismissed since her early death and the posthumous publication of her writings. Her ethic of self-emptying attention has provoked an extraordinary range of literary writing focused on not only her ideas but also her person, including novels, nonfiction, and especially poetry. Despite the challenges of Weil's ethic, what accounts for her appeal, especially among women writers? This book tells the story of some of Weil's most dedicated—and at points surprising—literary conversation partners, exploring why writers with varied political and religious commitments have found her thought and life so resonant. Cynthia R. Wallace considers authors who have devoted decades of attention to Weil, such as Adrienne Rich, Annie Dillard, and Mary Gordon, and who have written poetic sequences or book-length verse biographies of Weil, including Maggie Helwig, Stephanie Strickland, Kate Daniels, Sarah Klassen, Anne Carson, and Lorri Neilsen Glenn. She illuminates how writing to, of, and in the tradition of Weil has helped these writers grapple with the linked harms and possibilities of religious belief, self-giving attention, and the kind of moral seriousness required by the ethical and political crises of late modernity. The first book to trace Weil's influence on Anglophone literature, The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil provides new ways to understand Weil's legacy and why her provocative wisdom continues to challenge and inspire writers and readers.

Dimension: 216 x 140 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231214193