Force or Fragility? Simone Weil and Two Faces of Joan of Arc

Abstract

Simone Weil (1909–43) spent much of her philosophical life trying to separate unskillful models of spirituality from more helpful ones. Sifting tirelessly through world traditions of historical, literary, philosophical, artistic, and scientific texts, and never straying far from her own experience, Weil’s desire was to understand the necessities that shape human life and define its possibilities. Turning to literary figures like Antigone, and historical persons such as Joan of Arc, Weil reflected critically upon traditional models of spirituality. These models were her teachers, the treasures of cultural traditions, and they provided material for her philosophical judgments about what counts as genuine and what counts as ersatz spirituality. Often, Weil did not accept what received literary or historical traditions had to say about a particular figure or narrative, instead reversing, reinterpreting, and retelling traditional stories in light of her own understanding and purpose.¹ This Weilian trademark can be seen in her treatment of Joan of Arc. Journals and essays written during the early 1940s show Weil reflecting upon Joan of Arc with a sensibility sharpened by the circumstances of war and the exigencies of a refugee’s life on the run.