L'enracinement: Prelude a une declaration des devoirs encers l'etre humain (The Need for Roots: Prelude towards a declaration of duties towards mankind).

WEIL, Simone.

Published by Gallimard, Paris, 1949

About this Item

Half title + TP + half title + [9]-249 + [251]-[256] + half title + [259] = Table + [260] = Printer's information, Octavo. Later [23rd] Edition.Weil's most influential work, L'enracinement (The Need for Roots) diagnoses the causes of the social, cultural, and spiritual malaise that she saw afflicting the citizens of 20th century Europe. Here, she proposes the need to be rooted not to spaces or ideas, but to temporality and history: a past, a present, and a future. Without leaning into empty teleologies, Weil draws on the significance of a hopeful orientation toward a better future, a future that can only be realized insofar as its roots in the past are sufficiently nourished and realized. Far from endorsing a conservative attachment to nationalism, the fetishization of the family, or the romancing of ties to pastoral land and community, Weil maintains her unconventional spiritual approach and her leftist leanings.Her abstract sentimentality does not last for long, though, as she addresses significant political, cultural, and spiritual threats to her community in France and the broader workers' movements across the globe. Offering an analysis of this malaise which deviates from the traditional, Marxist assessment of their economic and political positions, Weil presents a more emotionally sensitive perspective based on her experiences working with these communities.Moreover, she offers a way in which this present malaise can be transformed into a better future without resorting to violent resolutions. Despite having fought in the Spanish Civil War, Weil was a committed pacifist, and this book demonstrates her genius in providing an alternative to violent revolution. Exploring behavioral changes that emphasize duty, structure, responsibility, and obligation as the ways in which roots to the community and to humanity itself are nourished and fostered, Weil examines the capacity for immediate change that each individual can harness. Original publisher's ivory wraps with green lettering to both covers and the spine. There is a very small chip to the top of the spine. Typical of books printed on such poor quality paper, the text is lightly browned throughout. Overall, a lovely copy of this strident presentation of Weil's thought. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

Seller Inventory # 1393

Bibliographic Details

• Title: L'enracinement: Prelude a une declaration des devoirs encers l'etre humain (The Need for Roots: Prelude towards a declaration of duties towards mankind).
• Publisher: Gallimard, Paris
• Publication Date: 1949
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: LATER EDITION.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Philosophy & Religions