Venice Saved

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.

Table of Contents:
Translators’ Biographies Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Chapter 1 Simone Weil: An Inhabited Philosophy Chapter 2 The Genesis and Purport of Venice Saved Chapter 3 Weil and the Tragic Chapter 4 On the Translation Venice Saved: Tragedy in Three Acts by Simone Weil Translators’ Notes Bibliography Further reading Index

About the Author :
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.

Review :
Simone Weil has long been admired for her reading of The Iliad in which she identified the true hero and subject as force. In 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. 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. 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.