Nihilism

Nihilism and Transcendence in Samuel Beckett and Simone Weil

Maroof Shah read

The problems of nihilism and absurdism as presented in the works of Samuel Beckett which presuppose a bleak view of the world without transcendence are effectively solved by turning to Simone Weil’s philosophy which appropriates key absurdist premises in its transcendence-centered interpretation of knowledge and experience. Weil’s rereading of religion appropriates important criticisms from existentialist-absurdist writers like Beckett and critics of traditional religion. It is possible to transcend the absurdist impasse by turning to Weil. Notebooks of Weil are here read as providing important insights to answer absurdist nihilist pessimist vision.

Teresian Journal of English Studies, vol. 3, no. 1 (2011), pp. 21-27

 

“Necessity and Nihilism in Simone Weil’s Vision of God”

Thomas Idinopolus

in Idinopolus, Thomas & Josephine Knopp, eds., Mysticism, Nihilism, Feminism: New Critical Essays on the Theology of Simone Weil, Johnson City, TN: Institution of Social Studies and Arts