Looking for Heroes in Postwar France : Albert Camus, Max Jacob, Simone Weil
Publication Type |
Book |
Year of Publication |
1996 |
Author |
|
Pages |
x, 234 p. |
Publisher |
University Press of New England |
Place Published |
Hanover, NH |
Language |
English |
Keywords |
anorexia |
Annotation |
Oxenhandler describes this book as a combination of narrative criticism and memoir. His reflections on Weil constitute the penultimate four chapters of the book. Here he refers to Weil as his mirror image and twin sister going on identify what he feels to be numerous points of connection between them. Among these are migraine headaches, something he attributes in both his and Weil’s case to sexually rooted psychological repression; a shared experience of being ‘alienated Jews’ who rejected their heritage in a turn to Christianity, a desire to serve the poor and needy and final a common interest in the Cathars. The latter he says, in Weil’s case represents a fantasy, which gives evidence to her fear of sexuality and an obsession with purity. Drawing on object-relations psychoanalytic theory, Oxenhandler reflects on Weil’s experience, especially her ‘mysticism’, labeling her a hysteric whose unfulfilled sexual desire served as a path to transcendence. He is especially interested in Weil’s anorexia and its relation to her childhood experiences and rejection of her heritage. He concludes by describing Weil as a ‘transgressor’ identifying this as similar to his own nature as well as that of Michel Foucault. |