On the Heights of Despair
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Book Overview
Born of a terrible insomnia-"a dizzying lucidity which would turn even paradise into hell"-this book presents the youthful 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."-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."-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."-Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0226106713
ISBN13:9780226106717
Release Date:October 1996
Publisher:University of Chicago Press
Length:150 Pages
Weight:0.50 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"
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