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The Power of Words
Series: Penguin Great Ideas
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The Power of Words
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Description
There are certain words which possess, in themselves, when properly used, a virtue which illumines and lifts up towards the good.
In these selected writings by Simone Weil—philosopher, activist, mystic—she explores the influence of language employed by the powerful, an individual's rights and responsibilities, and foods of the soul such as liberty, truth, security, and equality. Provocative, eloquent, and deeply moral, these are essays to untangle the intangible, nourish the spirit, and inspire thought.
GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war, and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked, and comforted. They have enriched lives—and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals, and visionaries whose ideas shook civilisation and helped make us who we are.
Series: Penguin Great Ideas
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780241472903
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 24 September 2020
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 8.0mm
Width: 112.0mm
Height: 182.0mm
Weight: 82g
Pages: 128
About the Author
Simone Weil (1909-43) was a French philosopher and mystic. Most of her works, published posthumously, consist of some notebooks and a collection of religious essays. They include, in English, Waiting for God (1951), Gravity and Grace (1952), The Need for Roots (1952), Notebooks (2 vol., 1956), Oppression and Liberty (1958), and Selected Essays, 1934-1943 (1962).
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The Need for Roots
A new translation of Simone Weil's best-known work—a political, philosophical, and spiritual treatise on what human life could be. An icon of twentieth-century French philosophy, Simone Weil was described by Andre Gide as 'the patron saint of all outsiders' and by Albert Camus as 'the only great spirit of our time'. In this, one of her last and best-known works,...Paperback$3200Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Simone Weil: An Anthology
This collection captures the essence of a remarkable woman, one of the foremost thinkers of our century. Simone Weil was one of the foremost thinkers of the twentieth century—a philosopher, theologian, critic, sociologist and political activist. This anthology spans the wide range of her thought and includes an extract from her best-known work The Need for Roots, exploring the ways...Paperback$2700Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Love in the Void
Love in the Void by Simone Weil explores the profound insights of a mystic and philosopher who continues to resonate with today's spiritual seekers. Weil's short and troubled life was characterised by her confounding insights into faith and doubt. What sets her apart? Is it her social radicalism, which led her to renounce privilege? Her ambivalence toward institutional religion? Or...Paperback$4000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
A Life in Letters
The inspiring letters of philosopher, mystic, and freedom fighter Simone Weil to her family, presented for the first time in English. Now in the pantheon of great thinkers, Simone Weil (1909–1943) lived largely in the shadows, searching for her spiritual home while bearing witness to the violence that devastated Europe twice in her brief lifetime. The letters she wrote to...Hardback$7599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Gravity and Grace
Simone Weil, the French philosopher, political activist, and religious mystic, was little known when she died young in 1943. Four years later, the philosopher-farmer Gustave Thibon compiled La pesanteur et la grace from the notebooks she left in his keeping. In 1952, this English translation accelerated the fame and influence of Simone Weil. The striking aphorisms in Gravity and Grace...Paperback$7275Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Gravity and Grace
Gravity and Grace was the first ever publication by the remarkable thinker and activist, Simone Weil. In it, Gustave Thibon, the farmer to whom she had entrusted her notebooks before her untimely death, compiled in one remarkable volume a compendium of her writings that have become a source of spiritual guidance and wisdom for countless individuals. On the fiftieth anniversary...Hardback$22400Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Need for Roots
Hailed by Andre Gide as the patron saint of all outsiders, Simone Weil's short life was ample testimony to her beliefs. In 1942 she fled France along with her family, going firstly to America. She then moved back to London in order to work with de Gaulle. Published posthumously, The Need for Roots was a direct result of this collaboration....Hardback$22400Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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Towards the end of her life, the French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil (1909-43) was working on a tragedy, Venice Saved. Appearing here in English for the first time, this play explores the realisation of Weil’s own thoughts on tragedy. A figure of affliction, a central theme in Weil's religious metaphysics, the central character offers a unique insight into Weil’s...Paperback$4099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
What We Owe One Another
We speak of rights. Simone Weil speaks of obligations. In this austere and devastating essay, she argues that justice does not begin with claims, but with what we owe to the vulnerable core in every human being. Against entitlement and abstraction, she offers something rarer: attention, restraint, and moral seriousness.PaperbackSold Out
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