The Wise Fool: Simone Weil (1909-1943)

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

2000

Author

Oldfield, Sybil

Book

Alternatives to Militarism 1900-1989 : Women Against the Iron Fist

Pages

67-95

Publisher

Edwin Mellen

Place Published

Lewiston

Language

English

Edition

2nd Edition

Chapter

4

Keywords

Alain (Emile Chartier)
force
pacifism
Spanish Civil War
violence
war

Annotation

In this chapter, Oldfield traces Weil’s attitudes towards militarism as they changed and evolved throughout her life. She begins with a brief biography of Weil, notes the influence of Weil's teacher Alain on her pacifist thought and the development of that thought up to the Spanish Civil war where she departs from it to briefly take up arms. Oldfield chronicles Weil’s return to pacifism and once again her reluctant rejection of it in the face of the events of the Second World War. Oldham then turns to a discussion of Weil’s attempt to offer an alternative to the violence and militarism endemic to western civilization.

Notes

First published in 1989. Published in German as: "Die weise Närrin: Simone Weil (1909-1943)." Trans. Fehhaber, Heidi in Frauen gegen den Krieg. Die Frau in der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1995. 77-105; reprinted in Oldfield, Sybil. "Simone Weil (1909-1943): The Wise Fool." Chap. 14 In "Thinking against the Current": Literature and Political Resistance, 143-64. Sussex: Sussex Academic Press, 2013