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kitko's review against another edition
3.0
"Such is the nature of force. Its power of converting a man into a thing is a double one, and in its application double-edged. To the same degree, though in different fashions, those who use it and those who endure it are turned to stone."
three stars because i loved weil's essay, appreciated bespaloff's, and trudged through broch's. mccarthy is certainly deserving of credit for her translation--weil's writing is gorgeous and pounding, if at times misleading. bespaloff succeeds in thoughtfully deconstructing aspects of the iliad's philosophy of force character by character, rehashing scenes weil showed us with added depth and analysis. would have loved if broch was simply not included in this edition. like idc about protestantism being the cause of modern disintegration of society or whatever
three stars because i loved weil's essay, appreciated bespaloff's, and trudged through broch's. mccarthy is certainly deserving of credit for her translation--weil's writing is gorgeous and pounding, if at times misleading. bespaloff succeeds in thoughtfully deconstructing aspects of the iliad's philosophy of force character by character, rehashing scenes weil showed us with added depth and analysis. would have loved if broch was simply not included in this edition. like idc about protestantism being the cause of modern disintegration of society or whatever
shivani_maurya's review against another edition
4.0
This turned out to be quite an illuminating companion read to the Iliad. I will definitely read it again after finishing Iliad, and expand on my review. But this has definitely stoked me to check out Weil's other works.
jennawatson's review against another edition
Dense prose masking some life-changing insights. Now I really gotta revisit The Iliad
grauspitz's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
I'm not gonna lie, I didn't fall in love with Simone Weil's essay like everyone else did, but I respected it as an essay. It's one I could even see myself reading again despite disagreeing with the thesis.
Rachel Bespaloff's character studies are what really got me, and are the real reason I'll keep this book on my shelves. My only issue with her is that her last essay, comparing Christianity and the Iliad, felt like the odd one out. I skimmed that one at best, and at worst skipped the last few pages.
As for Christopher Benfey's contribution? Well let's just say I wish it hadn't been included. For an essay Rachel Bespaloff and her work, it really lacked Rachel Bespaloff. Every once in a while she'd be mentioned but it didn't really seem to be related to the rest of the essay, but for the most part the whole thing seemed to wander in no one direction. Maybe there were connections between the various topics discussed but by that point I was skimming and only wanting to get to the end.
So for me, it was an overall mixed bag of essays; I respect Simone Weil's work, loved Rachel Bespaloff's work save for her last essay and found Christopher Benfey's contribution included rather pointlessly in the book.
I'm not gonna lie, I didn't fall in love with Simone Weil's essay like everyone else did, but I respected it as an essay. It's one I could even see myself reading again despite disagreeing with the thesis.
Rachel Bespaloff's character studies are what really got me, and are the real reason I'll keep this book on my shelves. My only issue with her is that her last essay, comparing Christianity and the Iliad, felt like the odd one out. I skimmed that one at best, and at worst skipped the last few pages.
As for Christopher Benfey's contribution? Well let's just say I wish it hadn't been included. For an essay Rachel Bespaloff and her work, it really lacked Rachel Bespaloff. Every once in a while she'd be mentioned but it didn't really seem to be related to the rest of the essay, but for the most part the whole thing seemed to wander in no one direction. Maybe there were connections between the various topics discussed but by that point I was skimming and only wanting to get to the end.
So for me, it was an overall mixed bag of essays; I respect Simone Weil's work, loved Rachel Bespaloff's work save for her last essay and found Christopher Benfey's contribution included rather pointlessly in the book.
dbaker's review against another edition
3.0
Bespaloff's first few essays were good and the last few were unreadable. Weil's was worth a read, though I disagreed with most of it.
Of its time, presumably, but not further.
Of its time, presumably, but not further.
dr_matthew_lloyd's review against another edition
4.0
This collection of two essays by [a:Simone Weil|18395|Simone Weil|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1318043623p2/18395.jpg] and [a:Rachel Bespaloff|18394|Rachel Bespaloff|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] is interesting less for its insight into the Iliad than for the writers' reinterpretation of the epic for the period in which they were writing. Weil's essay, by far the greater work of literature in its own right, contains much of the bitterness which she attributes to the Iliad itself, against Force, against, violence, against war. Bespaloff, meanwhile, perhaps has more merit as an interpretation of the text (certainly, her approach to Iliad XXIV invalidates much of Weil's argument, although this is but the final book of a long epic) although it still shows the influence of the times: Homer is unbiased in both essays, but his "model of human excellence", for Bespaloff, is Hector. The introduction by Christopher Benfey gives much of the historical context to the essays while Hermann Broch's conclusion is similarly a discussion which provides context, but which also has its own context in the literary world of the 1940s. Broch discusses myth, and culture, and storytelling, and how it shapes and is shaped by the world in which it comes to be; his points of reference are contemporary and recent greats. It emphasises that this collection is a much - if not more - about the period in which these essays were written than about the Homeric epics.