Summary

Pages 39 through 41 — Unlike previous correspondences, this letter is addressed to “S.” rather than Father Perrin and is sent from Casablanca. The letter contains four items: a personal letter addressed to Father Perrin, Weil’s unfinished commentary on Pythagorean texts, a copy of Weil’s translation of a fragment from Sophocles, and a copy of her essay “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God,” which is contained in Part 2 of this book.

Weil admits here that her study of the Pythagoreans has led her, all the more forcefully, to a position of remaining outside the Church. Not only does she desire to remain outside, but she does not want to engage with the Church or its dogmas in any way. Doing so, she thinks, would hinder her intellectual vocation and...