Gravity and Grace (Routledge Classics) [Paperback]

Simone Weil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2002 | Series: Routledge Classics

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 of the first English edition - by Routledge & Kegan Paul in 1952 - this Routledge Classics edition offers English readers the complete text of this landmark work for the first time ever, by incorporating a specially commissioned translation of the controversial chapter on Israel. Also previously untranslated is Gustave Thibon's postscript of 1990, which reminds us how privileged we are to be able to read a work which offers each reader such 'light for the spirit and nourishment for the soul'. This is a book that no one with a serious interest in the spiritual life can afford to be without.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Time and again she pierces the veil of complacency and brings the reader face to face with the deepest levels of existence.' - Church Times

'At the twilight of a century whose accelerated history has led to the rise and fall of so many idols, this book increasingly appears like a message from eternity.' - Gustave Thibon

'One of the most profound religious thinkers of modern times.' - The Twentieth Century, 1961

'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

'The light Simone shines makes everything seem, at once, reasurringly recognizable and so luminous as to be heavenly.' - Malcom Muggeridge

'In France she is ranked with Pascal by some, condemned as a dangerous heretic by others, and recognized as a genius by all.' - New York Times Book Review

'The best spiritual writer of this century ... she said it was her vocation to stand at the intersection of Christians and non-Christians. She thus becomes the patron saint of all outsiders.' - André Gide

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; New Ed edition (November 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415290015
• ISBN-13: 978-0415290012
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #274,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quintessence of a Spiritual Genius, March 1, 2007

By 

tepi "tepi" - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gravity and Grace (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

GRAVITY AND GRACE by Simone Weil. With an Introduction by Gustave Thibon. Translated from the French by Emma Craufurd. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972 (1952) ISBN 071002262X.

'Gravity and Grace' is a slim book of (in my edition) just 160 pages which holds within itself the quintessence of the greatest spiritual genius of the 20th century. The book is a compilation of brief extracts from Simone Weil's Notebooks and was assembled by Gustav Thibon, who has also added a valuable Introduction of 30 pages, the purpose of which is simply to provide readers with some necessary background, for, as he points out, "Simone Weil's writings belong to the category of very great work which can only be weakened and spoilt by a commentary."

M.Thibon has organized these sayings into 38 chapters - Detachment, The Self, Illusions, Idolatry, Love, Evil, Violence, Contradiction, Chance, Beauty, The Great Beast, etc. (The original French edition - LA PESANTEUR ET LA GRACE (Paris: Plon, 1947) - contained an additional chapter on Israel (pp.216-221) which the English publishers, for reasons best known to themselves, have silently omitted from the 1952 English edition. Whether it has since been restored I don't know).

I purchased my own copy of this book (bibliographical details of which are given above) over thirty years ago. Although many hundreds if not thousands of books have passed through my hands since then, it remains one of five or six books I would never ever consider parting with. Simone Weil's thoughts are so truthful and of such power that one never forgets them and her book becomes one that you find yourself returning to again and again. Here are a few of those thoughts selected at random:

"We cannot under any circumstances manufacture something which is better than ourselves" (p.41).

"The only organ of contact with existence is acceptance, love" (p.57).

"Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvellous, intoxicating" (p.62).

"Joy is the overflowing consciousness of reality" (p.73).

'Gravity and Grace' brings us the truth about the human condition, the truth about ourselves, and much of this truth is far from comforting. As M. Thibon points out, "It is not a question of philosophy here but of life," the life that all of us are at this moment living and that Simone Weil can help us more fully appreciate and understand. Her thoughts weave themselves into the fabric of one's mind and will leave any sensitive reader immeasurably enriched.

75 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They called her the Red Virgin, September 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gravity and Grace (Paperback)

Simone Weil's writings were impenetrable for me in the fifties. Now I have most of her works and I am frequently amazed at how penetrating are her ideas and thoughts, and how contrary to most thinking today. That in itself recommends her. She understands people, life, and suffering, and sees its purpose. She sees through all falseness to the goodness. Simone Weil is the most honest person I know or have heard of. Yet while her classmate, Simone de Beauvoir is famous Simone Weil is relatively unknown. She loves Plato, Buddhism, Geometry, Jesus, working people, her homeland, France, but she rejected the Catholic Church, baptism, and Judaism (her background). She is a saint if there ever was one. I am profoundly grateful for having known something of her, her diamond mind, and her beautiful soul.

42 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind-blowing aphorisms..., September 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Gravity and Grace (Paperback)

This young lady's writings and personal story blow away most other 20th Century thinkers. These are mainly short blasts. Provocative. Accessible. Yet push you further than you've likely been. Lots of ancient Christian desert hermit influence (St. Theresa, St. John of the Cross, Philokalia) on this revolutionary, radical mind. Timeless. Challenging. Simple. Confounds modernism.