"""Deracinement/Enracinement"" Iin the writings of Simone Weil"
Mclane, Betty Louise
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/71035
Description
Title
"""Deracinement/Enracinement"" Iin the writings of Simone Weil"
Author(s)
Mclane, Betty Louise
Issue Date
1983
Department of Study
French
Discipline
French
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Literature, Romance
Abstract
"The simple opposition implied by Simone Weil's own explicit usage of the terms ""deracinement/enracinement"" in some of her essays appearing in the collections entitled L'Enracinement, Ecrits historiques et politiques, and La Pesanteur et la Grace, leads the readers towards a false reduction of Weil's philosophy. This study examines the various, complex movements of ""deracinement/enracinement"" throughout all of Weil's writings on philosophy, power, myth, history, politics, science, religion, and language. This has been done in order to understand the complexity and depth of Weil's ideas on the loss of continuum, the central concern throughout her writings and her life."
"The problem of alienation in its various forms is the major theme of Weil's work, which is discussed in this study. But each of the terms of the binary pair, ""deracinement/enracinement"" describe movements relating not only to the problem of cultural alienation but also to its solution. The two terms are both opposed and complementary to each other, and retain both detachment and cohesion in their relationship. This is particularly evident in Weil's writings on science and language. In some instances, one term functions as its opposite, as for example in Weil's rejection of the transcendental ego, in her deconstruction of myths of power, in the spiritual ""decreation"" of self. Each term has both negative and positive value. Each seems subversive in so far as one functions at times as the other. The substitution of one term for another, the value attributed to displacement and flexibility contribute to the ambiguity and complexity of ""deracinement/enracinement."" Thus, in Weil's writings and philosophy, the pair ""deracinement/enracinement"" poses a considerable problem. They are terms whose movement and relationship are not easily defined nor understood. This study is based on an exploration of the various manifestations of ""deracinement/enracinement"" in order to better understand this problem."
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