On the Heights of Despair

This is the first book I have read by Cioran, after learning about his work from Stephen West's Philosophize This podcast, and I really enjoyed it! It is my second favorite of the books I have read so far this year (#1 is Escape From Freedom by Erich Fromm) and I am currently in the middle of reading it a second time after filling it with underlines and annotations the first time. The writing style is more flowing and less dense than the other philosophy books I have been reading. There are compelling discussions on themes such as suffering, death, hope, despair, knowledge, purity, creativity and salvation, and I particularly enjoyed the final essay, "Nonsense."Unfortunately, late last year and early this year, I was in a really dark, negative place in terms of my mental health. In this state, positive messages or advice on how to feel better weren't helpful. Instead, I was looking for empathy and understanding where I was, and that is what this book did for me. Cioran was able to put into words a lot of what I was feeling, and present ideas I could relate to, although there are some I disagree with. I plan to read more of his work in the future.Here are a few lines that stood out to me:1) "Creativity is a temporary salvation from the claws of death (8)."2) "philosophy is the art of masking inner torments (27)."3)"As far as I am concerned, I resign from humanity. I no longer want to be, nor can still be, a man. What should I do? Work for a social and political system, make a girl miserable? Hunt for weaknesses in philosophical systems, fight for moral and esthetic ideals? It's all too little (43)."

This was Emil Cioran's first book, published in Romania in 1934, when he was in his early 20s. Its short essays, none more than few pages long, sound many of the themes to come. Cioran's melancholy and bleakness are on full display, although reader's searching for a more well-worked-out and thorougly committed statement of his nihilism might instead turn to the mature works "The Temptation to Exist" and "The Trouble with Being Born."Cioran is one of the great nay-sayers in the history of philosophy. I find it particularly useful to read him in comparison with Aristotle. While Aristotle systematically develops an "ethics of flourishing," based on the goodness of life and the possibility and comprehensibility of human efforts to live well in this world, Cioran unsystematically explores the alternative: the senselessness of existence; the way our efforts to reform ourselves, our societies, or the world, fall apart; the narrative disunity of individual lives; etc.Compare Aristotle, on the unity of the virtues, with Cioran, in a passage from his book "The New Gods": "Our virtues, far from reinforcing each other, actually envy and exclude each other. When we grow conscious of their warfare, we begin to denounce them one by one, only too pleased not to have to take any further trouble for any of them."Cioran displayed great genius in developing his philosophy in the decades after this book was published. Thanks are due to Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston, for making this early work accessible to English-speakers in such a graceful and intelligent translation. I believe she also has a recent biography out on Cioran's early years, which should be well worth reading.

Great translation and print. No mistakes and the ink is not glossy, plus the paper is a little off-white, making it easier on the eyes. The material used for the cover is durable. The translation is very lyrical and keeps the original tone of the native language, it is not a word by word translation. Cioran of course deserves 5 stars, his gloomy aphorisms depress you but its helpful and makes you feel less alone. The book is a little over the average in price but its worth it. I hope someone translates his second book in English. Overall I would recommend it to someone who likes pessimism.

The quality of the paper is pretty good. This book has been my favorite for years, I have read it in Spanish and this time I gave it a chance in English and it was better translation than I thought.I highly recommend all the books that you can find of this author.

I had never read anything by Cioran before I saw an article in the NYTimes about him. I was intrigued, but nothing could have prepared me for the book - it blew my mind. The first short essay really grabs you and after that, it's Cioran giving you a guided tour of depression, shock, misery - all in a very vital voice, all with great confidence. He knows his stuff when it comes to our emotional lives.

Emil Cioran’s first book written at the tender age of 22. Not his finest and not as grotesque and deep as in The Trouble with Being Born and A Short History of Decay. However, still worth reading if you are Cioran fan/scholar.

Existentialism does not flirt with suicide as vividly as Emil Cioran., This is a man plagued by insomnia - facing endless suffering with no termination in end. This is youthful development of Cioran's philosphy - dark and cathartic, above all it is POETIC. This book reads beautifully. Read it aloud. You can even feel the despair though the excellent translation.

The translation was very high quality, it captured many more subtle linguistic techniques I would not have expected. The physical book itself was printed to order (paperback) with great build and printing quality.