Emil M. Cioran,Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston
Born of a terrible insomniaâ€”"a dizzying lucidity which would turn evenÂ paradise into hell"â€”this book presents the youthful Emil Cioran, a self-described "Nietzsche still complete with his Zarathustra, his poses, his mystical clown's tricks, a whole circus of the heights.",On the Heights of Despair, shows Cioran's first grappling with themes he would return to in his mature works: despair and decay, absurdity and alienation, futility and the irrationality of existence. It also presents Cioran as a connoisseur of apocalypse, a theoretician of despair, for whom writing and philosophy both share the "lyrical virtues" that alone lead to a metaphysical revelation.,"No modern writer twists the knife with Cioran's dexterity. . . . His writing . . . is informed with the bitterness of genuine compassion."â€”Bill Marx, ,Boston Phoenix,"The dark, existential despair of Romanian philosopher Cioran's short meditations is paradoxically bracing and life-affirming. . . . Puts him in the company of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard."â€”,Publishers Weekly,, starred review,"This is self-pity as epigram, the sort of dyspeptic pronouncement that gets most people kicked out of bed but that has kept Mr. Cioran going for the rest of his life."â€”Judith Shulevitz, ,New York Times Book ,Review
Philosophy,Nonfiction,European Literature,Romanian Literature,Writing,Essays,Cultural,Romania,Classics,Literature,20th Century,Cultural,France,Unfinished,Psychology
On the Heights of Despair