On the Heights of Despair

By: University of Chicago Press

Type: Softcover

Product Line: Reference Books (University of Chicago Press)

Last Stocked on 7/31/2025

Product Info

Title
On the Heights of Despair
Category
Author
E. M. Cioran
Publish Year
1996
Pages
150
Dimensions
5.5x8.5x.5"
NKG Part #
2148325128
Type

Description

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.

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