On the Heights of Despair

On the Heights of Despair (Romanian: Pe culmile disperării) is a 1934 non-fiction book by philosopher Emil Cioran, that was translated from Romanian into English in 1996 by Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston, who also wrote the book's English-language introduction. The first work that Cioran published, it is a series of short essays, dealing with themes that would later permeate his work, such as death, insomnia and insanity. On The Heights of Despair received the King Carol II Royal Foundation's Young Writer's Prize.[1] This was the only award that Cioran himself accepted – his later works would win the awards for the Prix Rogier Namier and Grand prix de littérature Paul-Morand, but he refused both of them.[2]

On The Heights of Despair
AuthorEmil Cioran
TranslatorIlinca Zarifopol-Johnston
CountryRomania
LanguageRomanian
GenrePhilosophy
Publication date
1934
Published in English
1996
Pages144
AwardsKing Carol II Foundation's Young Writer's Prize
ISBN9780226106717

Content

On the Heights of Despair is composed of essays, most of which are about two pages in length, in which Cioran gives his thoughts on a variety of societal phenomena, including, but not limited to, suicide, depression, pain, and social isolation. The title comes from a phrase used in Romanian newspapers which report suicides by saying that the person chose to kill themselves while "on the heights of despair".[3]

At this stage in his life, Cioran was a supporter of National Socialism, and he had expressed his support for the Night of the Long Knives,[4] which occurred in the same year On the Heights of Despair was published. However, On the Heights of Despair displays an absurdist and post-modernist attitude,[3] which runs counter to National Socialist philosophy.

On the Heights of Despair was written in a bout of depression and insomnia, conditions which Cioran was a lifelong victim of: "I've never been able to write otherwise than in the midst of the depression brought about by my nights of insomnia. For seven years I could barely sleep. I need this depression, and even today before I sit down to write I play a disk of Gypsy music from Hungary."[5]

Reception

In a manner that Cioran would later become recognised for,[2][6] On the Heights of Despair was noted for its elaborate prose, aphorisms and philosophical pessimism.

On the Heights of Despair was notable for being Cioran's first work, and though in his later years he gained a following among French intellectuals, the response in his home country of Romania was considerably different. The blasphemous nature of Cioran's work forced his parents – his father, a priest, and mother, head of the Christian Women's League, to maintain a low profile.[7] His mother once said that if she knew how miserable he would have turned out, she would have aborted him, a statement which Cioran described as "liberating." Despite this fact, she still read his works, whereas his father refused, because of his profession: "Everything that I wrote bothered him and he didn't know how to react. But my mother understood me."[8] Cioran's works were banned under the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu.[2]

Speaking about On the Heights of Despair, Saint-John Perse described Cioran as "the greatest French writer to honour our language since the death of Paul Valéry."[2]

See also

References
  1. Cioran, Emil (1996). On the Heights of Despair. University of Chicago Press. p. 142.
  2. Pace, Eric. "E. M. Cioran, 84, Novelist And Philosopher of Despair". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  3. Cioran, Emil (1996). On the Heights of Despair. University of Chicago Press. p. 11.
  4. Cioran, 1934, in Ornea, p.192
  5. Bradatan, Costica. "The Philosopher of Failure: Emil Cioran's Heights of Despair".
  6. Acquisto, Joseph (2015). The Fall out of Redemption: Writing and Thinking Beyond Salvation in Baudelaire, Cioran, Fondane, Agamben, and Nancy. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 142.
  7. Cioran, Emil (1996). On the Heights of Despair. p. 13.
  8. Michel, Jakob (1994). Wakefulness and Obsession: An Interview with E.M. Cioran. JSTOR. p. 125.
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