Simone Weil, Francine Du Plessix Gray
Simone Weil, Francine Du Plessix Gray
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Simone Weil

Author: Francine Du Plessix Gray

Narrator: Donada Peters

Unabridged: 7 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/03/2001


Synopsis

In Simone Weil, du Plessix Gray vividly evokes the life of an equally complex and intriguing figure. A patriot and a mystic, an unruly activist plagued by self-doubt, a pampered intellectual with a credo of manual labor, an ascetic who craved sensuous beauty, Simone Weil died at the age of thirty-four prematurely after a long struggle with anorexia. But her tremendous intellectual legacy foresaw many of the twentieth century's great changes and continues to influence philosophy today. Simone Weil traces this seminal thinker's transformation from privileged Parisian student to union organizer, activist, and philosopher as well as the complex evolution of her ideas on Christianity, politics, and sexuality. In this thoughtful and compelling biography, du Plessix Gray illuminates an enigmatic figure and early feminist whose passion and pathos will fascinate a wide audience of readers.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bevan on July 17, 2019

Ms. Weil was certainly one of the most complex and profound thinkers of the 20th century. Her intellect was astonishingly forceful and direct, beyond the depth of many of her contemporaries. At the same time, she must have been maddeningly childish and stubborn, insisting as she did so often on self......more

Goodreads review by Tyler on October 04, 2019

I enjoyed this biography. It gave me a cross section of life and history of which I was largely ignorant. Simone Weil was an interesting thinker, but, like most, I'd say her radical compassion with the suffering is her most striking feature. I haven't much studied anorexics, but her style of neuroti......more

Goodreads review by Meredith on June 23, 2018

Fascinating biography of this complex, influential, paradoxical, and at times maddening philosopher.......more

Goodreads review by David on January 24, 2011

This may be the only 5 star book on my list. This is not a good read: it is a powerful read. I think that I am talking more about the life depicted than the writing. However, I will say that the writing was concise and flowed. It was understated and held my attention through all the anger and pain e......more

Goodreads review by Kasey on July 05, 2012

The second Penguin Lives biography I've read in the past month. Both have been smart and readable and fascinating, this one in particular (the other was Kathryn Harrison's biography of Therese of Lisieux, which wasn't quite as rich as this one, maybe just because Therese didn't live that long) (whic......more