Published in 2015 (first published 1965)
228 pages
Simone Weil (1909-1943) was one of the 20th century’s most profound thinkers. In her early years, she was known for her brilliant and biting social commentary, and especially for the year she spent working in three Paris factories. After three profound religious experiences, she did not abandon her work on social problems, but also began to write truly original and penetrating religious and philosophical works that still bear on our times, writings that were only published after her death.
What is this book about?
Throughout her life, Simone Weil was a constant letter writer and Seventy Letters contains a fair and important selection of them. Many of them are biographically important, as they are written to friends and to her family, especially to her brother, Andre. But they also give many important clues to Weil’s own thinking on social and philosophical matters. In her later letters, her urgent concerns about her project for a frontline corps of nurses is obvious. In earlier ones, she not only shows her deep concern for social issues, but also raises issues about intellectual matters. These letters and others are particularly important for understanding her thinking on intellectual culture, philosophy, and science.
