Ask Nathan Anything: Quarantine Edition

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

do you have any thoughts on Simone Weil's death?  for instance, does it seem like something she choose in some way?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

do you have any thoughts on Simone Weil's death?  for instance, does it seem like something she choose in some way?

I'm strongly of the belief that Weil was anorexic, and moreover that, like Catherine of Siena, it actually was anorexia nervosa rather than the anorexia mirabilis that we associate with other famously religious women who starved themselves. (Towards the end of Catherine's life her confessor actually ordered her to start eating again, and she could not.) It could be argued that rushing headlong into abusing her body the way she did, seemingly making no effort to hold herself back, derived from a suicidal impulse, but I'm not comfortable saying that it was pure choice on her part, because towards the end she was clearly badly ill mentally as well as physically.

From what I've been reading it seems like Simone was too ill to digest much at the end, like it sounds Catherine was. I don't know much about anorexia mirabilis but couldn't it lead to that as well?  Looking at the wikipedia page, Catherine, Columba of Rieti, and Marie of Oignies all died in their early-to-mid thirties, as Simone did, and as Christ did.  Could be a coincidence due to prognosis of illness, but I can't help but think it may be due at some level to an attempt to emulate or join with Christ.
Simone's main reason for not eating that she gave  - to be in solidarity with those who could not - was genuine I believe. But it was a substitute for the fact she couldn't do more, so food was something in her control. Is that what you are thinking of in terms of anorexia nervosa?  Or do you think her not eating was related to body image issues?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

do you have any thoughts on Simone Weil's death?  for instance, does it seem like something she choose in some way?

I'm strongly of the belief that Weil was anorexic, and moreover that, like Catherine of Siena, it actually was anorexia nervosa rather than the anorexia mirabilis that we associate with other famously religious women who starved themselves. (Towards the end of Catherine's life her confessor actually ordered her to start eating again, and she could not.) It could be argued that rushing headlong into abusing her body the way she did, seemingly making no effort to hold herself back, derived from a suicidal impulse, but I'm not comfortable saying that it was pure choice on her part, because towards the end she was clearly badly ill mentally as well as physically.

From what I've been reading it seems like Simone was too ill to digest much at the end, like it sounds Catherine was. I don't know much about anorexia mirabilis but couldn't it lead to that as well?  Looking at the wikipedia page, Catherine, Columba of Rieti, and Marie of Oignies all died in their early-to-mid thirties, as Simone did, and as Christ did.  Could be a coincidence due to prognosis of illness, but I can't help but think it may be due at some level to an attempt to emulate or join with Christ.
Simone's main reason for not eating that she gave  - to be in solidarity with those who could not - was genuine I believe. But it was a substitute for the fact she couldn't do more, so food was something in her control. Is that what you are thinking of in terms of anorexia nervosa?  Or do you think her not eating was related to body image issues?

I refreshed my memory as to the definitions of nervosa and mirabilis and I was misremembering what the difference was. I absolutely think Weil was more motivated by spiritual concerns than what we'd today see as "body image issues"; I have read most of her body of work (and dressed up as her for Halloween once! Of course, I was a theology student at the time) and barely remember her devoting any writerly attention to her body at all, even in situations like her attempts to do heavy farm labor alluded to in Gravity and Grace where you'd think writing about her body would be pertinent. So in that sense you're correct to question my initial response; I was mistaken about my terms and I appreciate the correction.

I also think there's something to be said about the gendered pathologization of cases like hers and Catherine's. Almost nobody's mind goes to mental illness or eating disorders in discussions of male religious figures who were hard on their bodies in similar ways, like Simeon Stylites or for that matter Francis of Assisi. The fact that Weil is a major (arguably the major) female theologian of modern times probably has a lot to do with people's (including mine; this is something I've thought a lot about over the years!) fascination with this topic.

The terminology can be confusing since the DSM frames anorexia nervosa as about body image & esp. being thin, but the narrowness of that definition is only 40-50 yrs old and somewhat controversial given similar behaviors are done for different reasons cross-culturally.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

btw Delaware Libraries is doing a series of online presentations by authors of books about Weil. I happened to come across the one with Robert Zaresky and ordered his book; it's very good. these are the upcoming ones if you are interested:

Conversation with Sylvie Weil | At Home with André and Simone Weil
Monday, May 3 | 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Register here.
https://delawarelibraries.libcal.com/event/7577974

Conversation with The Rev. Eric O. Springsted | Simone Weil for the Twenty-First Century
Monday, May 17 | 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Register here.
https://delawarelibraries.libcal.com/event/7607949