A Life in Letters

This inessential collection traces the personal life of French philosopher Simone Weil (1909–1943) through the letters she sent to her mother, father, and brother. Covering the full span of Weil’s short life, the editors include charming if trifling missives from Weil’s early childhood (one written when Weil was eight describes a new doll as having “an expretion[sic] as if she was really my daughter”). Other entries touch on Weil’s formative experiences studying philosophy in Paris, participating in labor activism in the 1930s, and unsuccessfully trying to join antifascist forces in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. Weil’s youthful enthusiasm abounds (“My birthday? Twenty-seven years old! Can you believe it?”), acting as a gut-wrenching reminder of just how young she was when she died. Unfortunately, many of the entries are inconsequential (“Doing well. Nothing special to say,” reads a 1932 message written while Weil was teaching secondary school in Le Puy-en-Valey), and notes detailing the historical and biographical context required to make sense of the letters are frustratingly relegated to the back of the book, requiring much flipping back and forth. This will chiefly interest scholars of Weil. (Aug.)