Oppression and Liberty

Description

The remarkable French thinker Simone Weil is one of the leading intellectual and spiritual figures of the twentieth century. A legendary essayist, political philosopher and member of the French resistance, her literary output belied her tragically short life. Most of her work was published posthumously, to widespread acclaim. Always concerned with the nature of individual freedom, Weil explores in Oppression and Liberty its political and social implications. Analyzing the causes of oppression, its mechanisms and forms, she questions revolutionary responses and presents a prophetic view of a way forward. If, as she noted elsewhere, 'the future is made of the same stuff as the present', then there will always be a need to continue to listen to Simone Weil.

Simone Weil (1909-43) was one of the most original philosophical, religious and political thinkers of the twentieth century; besides working as a teacher, a factory worker and a farmhand, she fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was a member of the French resistance.

'We must simply expose ourselves to the personality of a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints.' - T. S. Eliot; 'Simone Weil has become a legend and her writings are regarded as a classic document of our period.' - the New Yorker