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A review by snapier
A Short History of Decay by E.M. Cioran
5.0
Let me preface this review with a disclaimer - if you're in a fragile place mentally, do not read this book. On the other hand, if you're in a fragile place mentally, do read this book. For those who feel as if they exist in solitary melancholia, Cioran's poetic aphorisms describing the experience of beautifully tragic sadness reveal that you are truly not alone - we all happen to suffer individually together.
Cioran has rapidly become my favourite philosopher. At times humourous, at times utterly depressing many breaks were required to get through this book. For once this is not a negative thing, the breaks only necessary to cope with the realisation that Cioran had made me truly feel both the depths of sadness and the heights of despair - along with existentialist realisations of the absurdity of it all.
In Cioran's words "to keep the mind vigilant, there is only coffee, disease, insomnia, or the obsession of death". If you have even 2 of these things, you are well on your way to comprehending the sense of ennui Cioran embodies in his work. The others may come in time, after all "life is what decomposes at every moment". Fill some of those moments with Cioran, and never feel alone again.
Cioran has rapidly become my favourite philosopher. At times humourous, at times utterly depressing many breaks were required to get through this book. For once this is not a negative thing, the breaks only necessary to cope with the realisation that Cioran had made me truly feel both the depths of sadness and the heights of despair - along with existentialist realisations of the absurdity of it all.
In Cioran's words "to keep the mind vigilant, there is only coffee, disease, insomnia, or the obsession of death". If you have even 2 of these things, you are well on your way to comprehending the sense of ennui Cioran embodies in his work. The others may come in time, after all "life is what decomposes at every moment". Fill some of those moments with Cioran, and never feel alone again.