Simone Weil’s Violent Grace
Publication Type |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication |
1996 |
Author |
|
Journal |
Cahiers Simone Weil |
Volume |
19 |
Number |
4 |
Pages |
397-412 |
Language |
English |
Keywords |
affliction (malheur) |
Annotation |
Pirruccello looks at Weil’s use of rape imagery as a metaphor for the action of grace in or on the human soul. She begins with a discussion of what it means to live within a ‘rape culture’, as many scholars argue exists in the west. She then goes on to locate and briefly discuss the rape imagery which exists in Weil’s writings, noting how Weil’s gives voice or words to the brutal, physical reality of rape, something Pirruccello says, is often ignored in the writing about it. Pirruccello offers some suggestions as to why Weil would use such violent language in describing grace. She concludes by comparing Weil’s imagery to that used by Teresa of Avila in her interior Castle, in an effort to show Weil was not completely extraordinary in this regard. |