When this eleven-essay collection was first released in France, it caused a literary frenzy on the Left Bank. Cioran writes sharply about writers, novels, mystics, apostles, philosophers, and Western civilizations. Twenty years ago, Richard Howard's excellent translation of this remarkable European thinker's work, The Temptation to Exist, first introduced it to American readers. The book has subsequently turned into an underground classic, and the literary aura around Cioran has only deepened.

Cioran is a typical modern-day exponent of the metaphysical futility school. It is possible to argue that the titles of the first two articles in The Temptation to Exist, "Thinking Against Oneself" and "On a Winded Civilization," perfectly capture the tone and perspective of the entire collection as well as Cioran's body of work. Here, as elsewhere, Cioran presents a series of intensely personal observations on a variety of instructive subjects, including the collapse of Western civilization, the place of the intellectual in modern society, the end of the novel, the benefits of tyranny, the future of utopia, and other related subjects.

Cioran's persuasiveness stems from more than just the content of his argument; his style and epigrammatic tautness are just as, if not more, significant. His much-publicized efforts to master the French language have yielded a style that combines an almost Olympian coldness and intellectuality with an almost hysterical impression of passion. It is fundamentally a teenage style, like so much about Cioran: conceited, confessional, and theatrical, but full of vitality none the less. One of his most blatant rhetorical allusions to Nietzsche is the royal we, which he frequently employs to lend his work an air of authority. Cioran is also highly quotable if one ignores context and misses small details like meaning. Reading these essays is nonetheless engaging and demands the reader's thoughtful attention. ( )

Ce l'ho col nostro secolo per averci soggiogati fino al punto di ossessionarci anche quando ce ne distacchiamo. (24)

Al capezzale di questa Europa, non so quale voce mi avverte: "Ecco dove tutto ha fine, anche la civiltà".
(46)

Che cosa aspettarsi da una genuflessione durata venti secoli? Ora che siamo finalmente in piedi, la vertigine ci vince: schiavi emancipati invano, ribelli dei quali il demonio si vergogna o si burla.
(85)

Il confessionale: violazione di coscienze perpetrata in nome del cielo. E cosa dire di quell'altra violazione che è l'analisi psicologica!
(94)

Non esiste il tempo, c'è soltanto questa paura che si svolge e si camuffa in istanti...
(110)

...dato che la nostra logica ha mutato volto, abbiamo imparato a fare a meno delle evidenze. Da qui la nostra passione per il vago, l'evanescenza del nostro incedere, del nostro scetticismo: i nostri dubbi non si definiscono più in rapporto alle nostre certezze, ma in rapporto ad altri dubbi più consistenti...
(121)

...disertori del verbo, non aspiriamo più che al regno dell'indifferenziato, all'oscurità e all'ebbrezza che precedettero l'irrompere della luca, all'estasi ininterrotta nel grembo di quella opacità originaria,
(168)

Il fatto è che la filosofia lungi dall'eliminare l'inessenziale, lo fa proprio e vi si compiace: tutti gli sforzi che dispiega non tendono forse ad impedirci di percepire la duplice nullità della parola e del mondo?
(172) ( )

Librería 6. Estante 5

This a group of essays that could stand alone. I took one main idea from them: Man's knowledge of his history clutters his thinking.

Although Cioran is considered a disciple of Nietzsche (which is obviously true), his work reminded me equally of Hannah Arendt due to his interest in thinking. The difference is that Cioran doesn't mind thinking about the void, whereas Arendt has more practical interests like avoiding genocide and Totalitarianism. ( )

Cioran upholds dilettantism, lucidity, and sensibility [119].
Resigned to vertigo, futility, alien, the imperatives of confusion.
Rebellion - illusions: disgust, ambiguity, bewilderment.
The best poets -- Shakespeare, Holderlin -- bypassed Christianity. [157]
The mind perceives only what it already knows. [160]
Suave qui peut [8]; points de repere [134]; ipseity of a language....[127]
Destiny - looks at Spain, Russia, Romania.
Advantages of Exile - looks at poets.
Blind Alleys - looks at writers.
Rages and Resignations - a career of words.
"Dealing with the Mystics" - compares to Tears of the Saints, biographical.
Etc. And a big big cheer for the translation from the French. ( )