Venice Saved by Simone Weil

Venice Saved by Simone Weil

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 broader philosophical interest in truth and justice, and provides a fresh perspective on the wider conception of tragedy itself.

The play depicts the plot by a group of Spanish mercenaries to sack Venice in 1618 and how it fails when one conspirator, Jaffier, betrays them to the Venetian authorities, because he feels compassion for the city's beauty.

The edition includes notes on the play by the translators as well as introductory material on: the life of Weil; the genesis and purport of the play; Weil and the tragic; the issues raised by translating Venice Saved. With additional suggestions for further reading, the volume opens up an area of interest and research: the literary Weil.

Simone Weil has long been admired for her reading of The Iliad in which she identified the true hero and subject as forceIn Venice Saved, her own attempt at dramaturgy, force once again takes center stage in the form of a conspiracy amongst a band of exiles to topple a city in the service of empire and personal glory. What, if anything, can withstand such force? Beauty? Friendship? Pity? Redemptive suffering? Venice Saved provides new insights to Weil’s moral and political philosophy. -- Lucian Stone, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of North Dakota, USA
This highly readable translation of Simone Weil’s unfinished and only play, Venise Sauvée, highlights universal themes such as violence, power, friendship, beauty, and affliction. But Weil’s tragedy, written at a time when her native France was being overtaken by Hitler’s Germany, is particularly resonant for the 21st century, as we confront new forms of brutality, the politics of fear, and ever-growing social divisiveness. -- A. Rebecca Rozelle-Stone, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of North Dakota, USA
The genealogy of Venice Saved in Weil’s lifework is laid out here with sensitivity and accuracy, exposing her key themes: force, affliction, attention, love, kenosis, void, and the cross. Weil contemplated suffering and redemption at the core of existence, and in Venice Saved she sought to distill their quintessence. -- Lissa McCullough, California State University Dominguez Hills, author of The Religious Philosophy of Simone Weil

Simone Weil was a French philosopher, mystic and activist.

Silvia Panizza is Lecturer in Ethics at the Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, UK.

Philip Wilson is Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781350043909
ISBN 10	1350043907
Title	Venice Saved
Author	Simone Weil
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published	2019-06-13
Number of pages	144
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.