Simone Weil: An Anthology

First a clarification: I am neither Christian nor particularly religious. Thus my opinions on Weil's writings are from a secular viewpoint. Moreover, like any truly great religious writing, Weil's writings should be read by everybody regardless of their religious affiliations, even if they are atheists. This book contains a collection of essays by Weil and some excerpts from her book Gravity and Grace. To many people, Weil's writing style can be opaque and infuriating. I believe it was Auden who said that Weil does not attempt to persuade through her writing ---instead she uses her brilliant aphoristic style to make assertions. In their own way, her aphorisms and insights make her case far better than any reasoned argument. The best essay in this collection is "The Iliad, or the Poem of Force". The key contention of the essay is that the main theme of Iliad is the degradation of humanity through the brute power of physical force. Achilles is the person through which the effect of physical force is manifested most clearly. Faced with the rage of Achilles, the Trojans are no more than timid subhuman beasts in front of a lion who slaughters them with no mercy. But the same awesome force degrades Achilles to a cruel beast ---by treating others inhmanely, he himself loses his human qualities of mercy and civilization until they are roused by the visit from Priam. The other essays in the collection are good, but do not come close to the power of the essay on Iliad. Overall this book is a good introduction to the writings of Simone Weil. To the readers of this book, I would recommend "Gravity and Grace" which is the best of her books.