Tough Enough: Weil, Arendt, McCarthy, Sontag, Arbus, & Didion

U-Chicago professor of English Deborah Nelson writes about six brilliant women who are often seen as particularly tough-minded: Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Diane Arbus, and Joan Didion. Aligned with no single tradition, they escape straightforward categories. Yet their work evinces an affinity of style and philosophical viewpoint that derives from a shared attitude toward suffering. What Mary McCarthy called a “cold eye” was not merely a personal aversion to displays of emotion: it was an unsentimental mode of attention that dictated both ethical positions and aesthetic approaches.
Tough Enough traces the careers of these women and their challenges to the pre-eminence of empathy as the ethical posture from which to examine pain.
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[@donaldreed2351]

What an excellent lecture on these great and fearless writers.

[@richardfinlayson4579]

A very interesting talk with lots of ideas for further reading. Thank you.

[@GBHForumNetwork]

Glad to hear it! We strive to share the great talks happening in Boston with people everywhere.

[@DEWwords]

Acute. Thanks.