“A collection of literary portraits intermingled with aphorisms and random thoughts . . . Brilliant and delightfully opinionated” (Kirkus Reviews).
In this collection of essays and epigrams, Romanian-born French philosopher E.M. Cioran gives us portraits and evaluations—which he calls admirations—of Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the poet Paul Valery, and Mircea Eliade, among others. In alternating sections of aphorisms—his anathemas—he delivers insights on such topics as solitude, flattery, vanity, friendship, insomnia, music, mortality, God, and the lure of disillusion.
“A superb literary essayist.” —The New York Times
“Cioran’s absolute, dark pessimism is, paradoxically, invigorating, even inspirational. Readers who have yet to encounter the Romanian-born thinker, who lives in France, will find in these aphorisms and essays one of the century's most fertile, profound minds.” —Publishers Weekly
“The result can be a series of touching and insightful recollections of Beckett or Michaux or Eliade. He is able to enter the Other’s subjectivity and assess sympathetically both the public personality and the real person.” —Library Journal
Everything by which we excel proceeds from a murky and suspect source — from our depths, in fact.
