The life and work of Simone Weil - philosopher, mystic, activist, and enigma - has defied easy description and categorization. Described by Albert Camus as “the only great spirit of our times”, it has only been more recently that attention has been given to her metaphysics, her political philosophy, and the radicality and subversiveness of her ideas.
Join novelist and philosopher Lars Iyer for a discussion of his brilliant new novel, My Weil! The conversation highlights some core philosophical themes in Weil’s work, as well as exploring the process of integrating philosophy into fiction. How does reading a work of philosophy inspire a whole literary project? And what are the key lessons Simone Weil can teach us in our embittered and cynical times?
Lars Iyer is a British novelist and philosopher. He is best known for a trilogy of short novels: Spurious, Dogma, and Exodus. Iyer has been shortlisted for both the Believer Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. His new book, My Weil, is published by Melville House.
Blog: spurious.typepad.com
Book: mhpbooks.com/books/my-weil
Twitter: / utterlyspurious
Christopher Thomas is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has research interests in the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza and Simone Weil.
Academic Homepage: www.mmu.ac.uk/hpp/staff/profi...