Anemones: A Simone Weil Project

by Lisa Robertson

The author’s research on troubadour poetry yields this experiment in thinking ‘near and with’ philosopher and political activist Simone Weil. Moving between the epistolary, poetry, performance and scholarly research, it centres on a new translation of Weil’s 1942 essay ‘What the Occitan Inspiration Consists Of’ that elevates the troubadour concept of love to a practice of political resistance rejecting force in all its forms. Robertson dwells on the transhistorical potential of this concept from the violent context in which it emerged to the troubling conditions of the present. Embracing actualised and suppressed histories, the work testifies to words, friendship and readership as resistance across distances.

Genres: Poetry

120 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Klara Plessis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been absolutely delighted with this Anemones project. As far as perfection doesn't exist, this works comes close, for me, in its folds and relations. Every element seems to come together seamlessly, which makes it all the more enjoyable to discover that the Weil translation was incidental to research Robertson had intended to follow a different path.

[Alicia Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

"
I watch the lark beat her wings
Joyous on sunray
Clasps her wings in songflight
Forgetting herself she falls back

My darling falls back like a lark
With sweetness at her core
Thrumming on brightness
Sweet to her core

Hot joy blurs her wings
Sweetness comes to her
Such strong need comes to me
From she whose joy I see

I am shocked that my heart doesn't- right now- dissolve
In this grand desire
Dissolve like sugar
The lark plummets
"

[Craw Thrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Can’t wait to see further troubadour wide rime research! The book is well made and special <3

[Jem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, brilliant, and absolutely gorgeous. All my love to Lisa R.