Biographers in Conversation

Robert Zaretsky "The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas"

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In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the intellectual historian Dr Robert Zaretsky chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas. Known as the ‘patron saint of all outsiders’, Simone Weil was one of the 20th century’s most remarkable thinkers, a philosopher who truly lived by her political and ethical ideals.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

  • Why Robert Zaretsky chose the title: The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas
  • Why Simone’s ideals and philosophies are so relevant today, 80 years after her death
  • How Robert grasped Simone’s thinking and behaviour given her contradictory, paradoxical character that baffled her many biographers
  • Why Robert crafted a hybrid of biography and philosophy
  • Why he explored Simone’s philosophies and search for truth through the prism of her life rather than crafting a traditional biography
  • Why he structured the book around five chapters that present Simone’s core philosophies
  • How he portrayed Simone’s ideas with clarity and grace, given her enigmatic character, behaviour and philosophies
  • The literary devices he employed to craft sensitive, compelling and lyrical narrative
  • How Robert challenged the myths surrounding Simone Weil.
    • ...more
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