Simone Weil: Paying Attention to the World

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”

“There are only two things that pierce the human heart. One is beauty. The other is affliction.”

One of the most compelling figures of modern thought, Simone Weil (1909–1943) was a brilliant, often startling, and visionary thinker. She was a philosopher (one of the first two women in France to earn a PhD, along with her classmate Simone de Beauvoir), teacher, writer, factory worker, pacifist, soldier, marxist, anarchist, Jewish, Christian, mystic, exile, playwright, translator, and mathematician. Her books, essays, and journals present her the development of her complex convictions. These works form a powerful spiritual and philosophical testament.

Her remarkable life and thought were admired by W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, Albert Camus, Iris Murdoch, Franz Fanon, Thomas Merton, Elizabeth Bishop, and Susan Sontag, among many others, and since her death became a major influence in thinking about how to address the afflictions of life and the difficulties of world affairs.
She combined her work as a political thinker and as a spiritual seeker into a unique understanding of human rights, moral obligation, the nature of human life, and our relations to the cosmos. Even more: she is one of the greatest thinkers about love. She addresses our need for love and the forms of love we must cultivate.

Reading Weil is a sometimes strange, disturbing,, but always thrilling adventure. An unconventional and insightful diagnostician of the human condition, she confronts violence, oppression, and injustice with her changing faith and a demanding form of compassion.

We will read her short book on the Iliad, several essays, selections from her journals, and parts of her books Gravity and Grace and The Need for Roots.

Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.