Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil. Translated by Arthur Wills. 1952 Putnam, unstated printing, 236 pages. Weil was a French author and philosopher. According to the New York Times in a review of a biograhpy, "Simone Weil, one of the most brilliant, and original minds of 20th century France, died at the age of 34 in a nursing home near London. The coroner issued a verdict of suicide, due to voluntary starvation—an action undertaken at least in part out of wish not to eat more than the rations given her compatriots in France under the German occupation. The year of her death was 1943." According to the Washington Independent, "Gravity and Grace is one of her most-read works. First published in France in 1947, La Pésanteur et la grâce was received as a manifesto of faith for those searching for God’s presence in the black holes of an indifferent universe. Despite the claim on the book’s cover and title page, it is not a book that Weil wrote. [...]Rather, they were titled and patched together by Gustave Thibon (1903-2001). Excerpting and arranging fragments from the 11 notebooks she entrusted to him in 1942, Thibon staged Weil’s thoughts for all to behold." Condition: Jacket in good- condition, chips and tears, browning, book in good condition, rubbing and browning to boards "All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analagous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception."
