Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Cioran's absolute, dark pessimism is, paradoxically, invigorating, even inspirational. Readers who have yet to encounter the Romanian-born thinker (author of The Trouble with Being Born , etc.), who lives in France, will find in these aphorisms and essays one of the century's most fertile, profound minds. Decision-maker in an existential void, master of the stunning bleak aphorism (e.g., ``To have accomplished nothing and to die overworked''), Cioran meditates ruefully on modern cities, insomnia, music as an illusion, friendship, neighbors, the ``age-old slavery'' of women and the possible disappearance of our species. Clusters of fragmentary thoughts and impressions alternate with terse essays on such figures as Mircea Eliade, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph de Maistre, Henri Michaux, Paul Valery and Borges. Like his friend and fellow exile Beckett, Cioran ``lives not in time but parallel to it,'' a detachment transformed into wisdom in this meditative maelstrom. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
This miscellany from Cioran's past 40 years will be useful not because he wrote it but because he has insights on better-known figures like Valery, Borges, and Beckett. Romanian born (in 1911), and Paris based since 1937, Cioran has observed and survived Europe since his twenties and has outlived many members of his generation. If the unpleasant persona created here is accurate, it could explain some of his popular neglect. He makes himself out to be a snorting curmudgeon most people would prefer to avoid. Yet when his attention is elicited, usually his affection is also. The result can be a series of touching and insightful recollections of Beckett or Michaux or Eliade. He is able to enter the Other's subjectivity and assess sympathetically both the public personality and the real person. He uses French, which he claims is a restricting but beloved straitjacket, with a taut correctness that Howard's English impressively transcribes.-- Marilyn Gaddis Rose, SUNY at Binghamton (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Further speculations and pronouncements from the highly regarded Parisian philosopher (History and Utopia, 1987, etc.), as varied in their subjects as in their depth. ""In any book governed by the Fragment, truths and whims keep company throughout."" Thus Cioran begins a collection of literary portraits (de Maistre, Beckett, Borges, Fitzgerald) intermingled with aphorisms and random thoughts. The whims are apparent from the start. This is a book of meditation and conceit, in which the personality of the author is brought forcibly to bear upon every subject under consideration. The result is a kind of confession, Pascal-like in its intensity. Cioran's highly personal, almost confidential tone is most appropriate when he examines those figures who were known to him in real life--Beckett, for example, or Eliade--or whose histories share important features with his own (such as Fitzgerald, whose long struggle with depression provides the subject for one of the most insightful pieces in the book). Cioran's lack of clear focus can be tiresome, however--especially in his reflections on de Maistre, where he examines the notions of ""Utopia"" and ""reaction"" from too many angles and at too great a length. His aphorisms are diverse and unorganized, and range from the striking (""To be called a deicide is the most flattering insult that can be addressed to an individual"") to the banal (""One can be proud of what one has done, but one should be much prouder of what one has not done""). The final chapter, which speaks of the creative impulse and the urge to write--""to vomit up one's secrets""--is succinct and moving. Brilliant and delightfully opinionated, if a bit verbose. Not a book to be read straight through, but one with enough substance to satisfy anyone. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
