Writing on Simone Weil

This is our friend Sylvie Weil, at a reading and signing for her vivid and entertaining new book, At Home with André and Simone Weil, at the Brattleboro (VT) Literary Festival. Sylvie's father André was one of the greatest mathematicians of our time, and her aunt Simone was a legendary philosopher and mystic who died in London at the age of 34 in 1943. She had tuberculosis and had deprived herself of food in solidarity with those suffering in the war.

To quote from the book, "Simone was the young aunt who died at age thirty- four, a few months after I was born, the one I looked like, the one I had to replace for her parents. She wrote to them eight days before dying:'You have another source of comfort,' as part of a short letter penned in conscientious, childlike handwriting.... The source of comfort was me."

Although Simone Weil was Jewish, she engaged closely with Catholicism and considered being baptized. Many persons now regard her as a saint, and some seem to view Sylvie virtually as her reincarnation (confirmed by her looks). This is only one of many points providing real humor in the book--and in Sylvie's lively reading and responses to questions.

Sylvie grew up in Paris, but has spent most of her life in the U.S. as a teacher and writer of fiction for adults and young adults. This book appeared originally in France as Chez les Weil in 1909, the centennial of Simone's birth.