E.M. Cioran

[bendk]

This is a short book review/recommendation that TL wrote for The New York Review of Science Fiction, Number 40, December 1991.

Anathemas and Admirations, by E.M. Cioran. It's easy to describe Cioran as a "coroner of illusions," "a virtuoso of decomposition," or some such job designation. His writings, however, make occupations of any kind seem a joke. Almost all of his collections of essays and aphorisms have been translated into English by Richard Howard. Here are a few remarks from this (no kidding) Transylvanian-born philosopher.

What is marvelous is that each day brings us a new reason to disappear.

Existence might be justified if each of us behaved as if he were the last man alive.

Regret at not having been deceived like all the rest, rage at having seen clearly: such is the secret misery of more than one enlightened person.

A nineteenth-century anthropologist reported that the Bangla cannibals defined human beings as "the food that talks." Cioran reminds us that, in the absence of cannibals, there are worms enough and time to do the feasting.

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I also found this small bit that reinforces the Ligotti/Cioran nexus.

In its initial publication in DARK HORIZONS, Issue No. 28, Spring 1985, "Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story," TL used a Cioran quote to introduce the story. When the story was republished in SOADD, the introductory quote was dropped. Here it is:

To hear sobs - agonized, joyous - of that Evil One
who wriggles through your thoughts, and not to strangle
the intruder? But if you attack him, it will only be
out of some futile self-indulgence. He is already
your pseudonym; you cannot do him violence with
impunity.
-- E.M. Cioran: The Demon

The Demon is an aphorism from Cioran's book A SHORT HISTORY OF DECAY. (My favorite Cioran book so far). I can't help but type another paragraph.

"He is there, in the blood's inferno, in the bitterness of each cell, in the shudder of our nerves, in those contrary prayers exhaled by hate, everywhere where he makes, out of horror, his comfort. Should I let him undermine my hours, when as a meticulous accomplice of my destruction I could vomit up my hopes and desist from myself? He shares - murderous tenant - my bed, my oblivions, and my insomnias; to lose him, my own loss is necessary. And when you have only a body and a soul, the one too heavy and the other too dim, how bear as well an additional weight, a further darkness? How drag your way through a dark time? I dream of a golden moment outside of Becoming, a sunlit moment transcending the torment of the organs and the melody of their decomposition."

Cioran rivals Nietzsche, in my opinion, as one of the best poet philosophers.

	SOADD Songs of a Dead Dreamer   Songs of a Dead Dreamer was the first book published featuring a collection stories by Thomas Ligotti. Original Printing Revised Printing

[The Silent One]

"Iä"s of assent.

[darkestthicket]

I havent been able tolocate a book by Cioran yet, perhaps ill check ebay, sounds like id like it. :wink:

[unknown]

I picked up Cioran's A Short History of Decay the other day at Border's. It's not bad. I'm having a hard time trying to find continuity in it. He seems to be jumping all over the place and doesn't exactly get his ideas across very clearly. It's not exactly light reading. This'll take me some time to get through.

[dekadent666]

Cioran does jump all over the place. Although I love his work, I love it in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. He does have the quality of a prose-poet, and is similar to Nietzsche in some ways, but after reading "The Temptation To Exist" and "On the Heights of Despair", as well as some other material I cannot believe he means his work to be taken entirely seriously. That said, I wish I hadn't lost all my copies of his books.

"Why this intoxication with the moral illusions when there are so many other beautiful ones?"

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by dekadent666";p=&quot

I cannot believe he means his work to be taken entirely seriously.

I don't think Cioran believes life should be taken entirely seriously either.

[G. S. Carnivals]

Quote Originally Posted by bendk";p=&quot

Quote Originally Posted by dekadent666";p=&quot I cannot believe he means his work to be taken entirely seriously. I don't think Cioran believes life should be taken entirely seriously either.

I have not read Cioran, but I definitely concur with the above sentiments about life and one's work.

[waffles]

I think he intended his work to be taken seriously. However, just because his work is amusing doesn't make it any less serious. It's fun to watch the nicey-nice up-with people types squirm when such stuff is quoted to them.

I remember reading a brief obituary of EC in Newsweek(international edition). He once told a journalist ... "If it weren't for the possibility of suicide, I would've killed myself years ago."

[dekadent666]

I cannot believe he means his work to be taken entirely seriously.



I don't think Cioran believes life should be taken entirely seriously either.


Well, if that's the case (as it obviously is if you read him), it certainly shows in the way he writes. I couldn't shake the sense of a stand-up comic nihilist.

[waffles]

When I read EC I always think of a kinder and gentler Brother Theodore ...

Wikipedia (Links)

Brother_Theodore

I miss Brother Theodore's appearances on Letterman so much.

I try to imagine Bill Moyers interviewing EC.

Enjoy!