The Lewes Public Library Spoken Word Society and Shakespeare Festival presents Simona Giurgea performing Simone Weil’s “The Iliad or the Poem of Force.”

"The true hero, the true subject, the centre of the Iliad, is force. Force employed by man, force that enslaves man, force before which man's flesh shrinks away. In this work at all times, the human spirit is shown as modified by its relation to force, as swept away, blinded, by the very force it imagined it could handle, as deformed by the weight of the force it submits to."

French philosopher Simone Weil’s The Iliad or Poem of Force two-part essay was first published in French in the Cahiers du Sud (1940-41) and then translated into English in 1945 by Mary McCarthy and appeared in the journal Politics. It provides a significant insight into the potential for force and violence to overcome the human spirit. Simona Giurgea, accomplished actor and senior lecturer in the University Theater at Colgate University, will perform a powerful dramatic portrayal of Simone Weil. The performance will be followed by a talk back with Giurgea, then a reception sponsored by the online journal ATTENTION: The Life and Legacy of Simone Weil. The following day Professor E. Jane Doering will lead a discussion with Simona Giurgea on the essay.

Seating is limited and registration is required. A free copy of the essay may be found here.

This event is funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.