Name: On the Heights of Despair
ISBN: 9780704302228

Cioran, Emile Michel Cioran

On the Heights of Despair

E. M. Cioran

"This book saved my life." So recalls the Romanian philosopher E.M. Cioran about a book that meditates on madness and death, the absurdity of existence, and the agony of consciousness. Cioran finds in our darkest fears not only reasons to continue living but also the comic, absurd humor in doing so. This early work by Cioran, whom Susan Sontag calls "the most distinguished figure in the tradition of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein," and Marc Fumaroli recently described as "a legend ... a master of French prose," portrays the philosophical mind in the crisis of its self-consuming fever. Born out of a terrible insomnia which Cioran characterizes as "a dizzying lucidity which would turn even paradise into hell," On the Heights of Despair was written in Romania in 1934 at the age of twenty-two. It presents us with the youthful Cioran, who described himself as "a Nietzsche still complete with his Zarathustra, his poses, his mystical clown's tricks, a whole circus of the heights." It also presents Cioran as a connoisseur of apocalypse, a theoretician of despair. For Cioran, writing and philosophy are closely related to physical suffering: both share the "lyrical virtues" that alone lead to metaphysical revelation. The result is a book that becomes a substitute for as well as an antidote to suicide. By enacting the struggle of the Romantic soul against God, the universe, and itself, Cioran releases a saving burst of lyrical energy that carries him safely out of his desperation. On the Heights of Despair shows the philosopher'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. Yet the bracing verve of Cioran's writing and his earthy good humor point toward the elegant stylist of later works. An exorcism of despair, On the Heights of Despair offers insight into the ironic anguish of this philosophical mind. It also gives readers a fascinating look at Cioran's early development, opening new perspectives on his evolution as a writer and thinker.

Emily Morgan

in 2016 i saw a quote from cioran on tumblr & downloaded the pdf of this book. i printed it out & highlighted all my favourite parts in green. it became a crumpled, coffee-stained collection of papers that i probably still have somewhere, in my room. 

years later i found a hard copy in a brooklyn bookstore & have been slowly making my way through it again, underlining all my favourite parts in black pen. i think i have finally come to understand that i detest cioran’s philosophy & love his lyricism. 

but when you are sad it is nice to have someone else tell you about sadness. it’s so self indulgent but also so comforting when this /thing you think is so uniquely yours is actually so universal. and it’s been turned into something so poetic. 

here are some of my favourite underlined bits:

“I live because the mountains do not laugh and the worms do not sing...For one who has lost everything there is nothing left in life except the passion of the absurd.”

“On summer afternoons haven’t you experienced that sensation of strange pleasure when you abandon yourself to the senses without any special thought and when intimations of serene eternity bring an unusual peace to your soul? It is as if all worldly worries and all spiritual doubts grow dumb in front of a display of overwhelming beauty, whose seductions render all questions superfluous.” 

“If pain is part of your being, overcoming it is like a loss and causes a pang of regret. I owe to suffering the best parts of myself as well as all that I have lost in life.”

On the Heights of Despair

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