A Short History of Decay

I own most of the Arcade paperback editions of Cioran’s French works, and they are quite good. The introductions by Eugene Thacker are brief and useful. Richard Howard’s translations are masterful.Précis de décomposition is (I think) Cioran’s best book, and is certainly the one that put him on the map. Howard’s prize-winning translation is exemplary, especially his wonderfully mordant rendering of the title—A Short History of Decay. It does exactly what it says on the tin, as the saying goes. (Howard also has an impressive translation of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal.)Whether you do or do not subscribe to Cioran’s extreme (but not humorless) form of pessimism doesn’t matter so much: it’s simply a great work of literature that should be read. Cioran was one of the twentieth century’s great, if lesser known, prose stylists. Every sentence is quotable.And the same goes for the whole corpus of Cioran’s French works, all of which I would recommend. For Cioran’s writings originally published in Romanian, look for the University of Chicago Press editions translated by Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston. Unfortunately, she was able to complete only two translations before her untimely death: Cioran’s first book, On the Heights of Despair, and his take on mysticism, Tears and Saints. These are less mature but no less important than his later works. Zarifopol-Johnston also has an excellent memoir, Searching for Cioran.

I’ve never read something so hilarious and terrible, glorious and tragic, fantastic and devastating, besides Shakespeare. I LOVE IT!

Personally I think Cioran is at his funniest in the short aphorism form (eg All Gall is Divided).Here we have page length aphorisms, a la Nietzsche but written as if by some amalgam of a symbolist poet and post-structuralist. The result is somewhat dense, semi-lucid but highly creative and evocative musings on such topics as abstraction, meaning, death, etc.I can see why it’s considered his main work. It’s certainly more work to read! However it’s less enjoyable than the shorter form works. My mind wanders more reading this, where Cioran’s flights of verbal fancy leave me occasionally sighing and then alert.Edit: After making it someway through the book, my opinion of it is elevated for sure. Highly cynical, but does what the best writing is capable of: alters your perspective and gives a new way of looking at things. There are some fabulous sentences here that are truly otherworldly on their beauty as well.

This is a really good quality print just what I'm looking for in paperbacks, in fact the quality of this paperback is better than some of my hard covers. I'm not very far in but I have found it humorous and dreadful already.

I would have gave this book 5 stars, but it's tough reading. Cioran's vocabulary was tremendous. Reading this book just might have you rethinking every aspect of your existence. Be ready and be brave. I gave you fair warning.

Cioran sat quietly at a coffee shop beside Sartre for nearly a decade before re-inventing himself in French, his second language, with arguably the finest French Prose since Paul Valery. This book consists entirely of medium length essays which all seem to advance the same central theme: Nihilism and History.Its hard to consider Cioran among the philosophers. When I hear his name I think first of Poets, Novelists and Dramatists...yet he never wrote poetry, drama or novels. I consider him a character with the world as his stage...his entire existence seems like it dropped out of a poet's brain, a dramatists tact and a Novelist's irony. Never boring. Always engaging. Full of surprise, even when we've guessed the score. Highly Recommended!

I bought for my son, the binding is nice. Brand new, so condition is good.

Like, I'm just gonna be so depro your going to feel sad at the end of the read. Drudging through this is going to be like swimming through the gaping maw of reek.Like, I'm the drudge darkness that creeps in to the seep. Mercurial and effervescent. The hollow in the teach. Like siesta but in the midst of a siege. Better read it now because we're heading to the brink. Like a pirouette... on the cusp of the chasm in the keep.

My, my, my.... Cioran is not only a philosopher, but also a master of seen life and the crudeness it hides. Deem a pessimist he peels the unsavory reality of humanity and society. The falsehood of religion, politics, friendship and civility. A must read. Although I had to re-read some of his chapters to understand the wisdom involved. A true reading pleasure.

Overall a compelling read, an interesting dive into nihilism.The book itself came packaged and protected well.

A fun,light read!

You either get Cioran or you don’t. If you don’t like him, this book won’t change your mind. If you think you might, or if you do, then you should read this. Still think that The Trouble With Being Born is better but this one has a perrmanent place on my shelf.