On the Heights of Despair

About this book

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 clowns tricks a whole circus of the heights." On the Heights of Despair shows Ciorans 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.