On the Heights of Despair - Paperback

by E. M. Cioran (Author), Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston (Translator)

A classic work of philosophical reflection on despair, decay, and the futility of existence that Publishers Weekly said "puts Cioran in the company of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard" Born of a terrible insomnia--"a dizzying lucidity which would turn even paradise into hell"--this book presents the potent, self-lacerating insights of the youthful E. M. 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 later, 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.
A book to keep at your bedside, as epigrammatic as it is insightful, On the Heights of Despair offers not consolation, but engaging, thought-provoking companionship.

Back Jacket

Born of a terrible insomnia which E. M. Cioran called 'a dizzying lucidity which would turn even paradise into hell, ' this book presents the young philosopher, a self-described 'Nietzsche still complete with his Zarathustra, his poses, his mystical clown's tricks, a whole circus of the heights. An exorcism of despair, this book offers insights into the ironic anguish of Cioran's philosophic mind while providing fascinating information on his early development as a writer and thinker.