Simone Weil’s Unfinished Shirt

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

2002

Author

Avery, Desmond

Journal

PN Review (Poetry Nation Review)

Volume

28

Number

4

Pages

28-33

Language

English

Publish Dates

March-April

Keywords

attention
Knowledge
love
truth
work

Annotation

Avery begins with a discussion of Weil’s essay on the Grimm’s fairy tale about six swans written as a homework assignment when she was sixteen. Within this piece of writing, he argues, one finds the themes of “innocent suffering, sacrificial labour, the power of truth, the power of love, silence, and not laughing” (p. 28) all of which she will continue to develop throughout her life and work. He then gives a number of examples of her reflections on these themes paying particular attention to her essay “The Right Use of School Studies with a view to the Love of God” and her letters to Father Perrin, later published as her ‘spiritual autobiography’.

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