“A Portrait of Civilized Man” – CIORAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOx7UQ0mD3E Our determination to banish the irregular, the unexpected, and the misshapen from the human landscape verges on indecency : that certain tribesmen still choose to devour their surplus elders is doubtless deplorable, but I cannot conclude that such picturesque sybarites must be exterminated; after all, cannibalism is a model closed economy, as well as…

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“Encounters with the void” (E.M. Cioran)

The Hudson Review, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring, 1970), pp. 37-48 Transl. by Frederick Brown THE MORE WE PONDER Buddha's last exhortation: "Death is inherent in all compound things. Work relentlessly for your salvation"-the more we are disturbed by the impossibility of feeling ourselves an aggregate, a transitory, if not fortuitous combination of elements. We…

“A Portrait of Civilized Man” (E. M. Cioran)

The Hudson Review, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1964), pp. 9-20. Translated by Marthiel Mathews from CIORAN, E. M., "Portrait de l'homme civilisé", La chute dans le temps, Paris, Gallimard, 1964. OUR RAGE TO RID THE HUMAN SCENE of everything irregular, unexpected, or mis-shapen, borders on indecency. It may of course be deplorable that certain…

“The new gods” (E. M. Cioran)

The Hudson Review, Vol. 21, No. 1, 20th Anniversary Issue (Spring, 1968), pp. 39-52. Translated by Frederick Brown. * Whoever finds it interesting to consider the unfolding pageant of irreducible ideas and beliefs would do well to fix his attention on the first centuries of the Christian era. There he will find the very model…

“The evil demiurge” (E. M. Cioran)

The Hudson Review, vol. 20, no. 2 (Summer, 1967), pp. 189-200. Translated by Frederick Brown from CIORAN, E. M., "Le mauvais démiurge", Le mauvais démiurge. Paris: Gallimard: 1969. Man, apart from a few anomalies, does not have a bent for the good; what god would prompt him to it? To perform the tiniest act untainted…

“A Bouquet of Heads” (E.M. Cioran)

The Hudson Review, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Winter, 1962-1963), pp. 491-503. Translated from the French by Marthiel Mathews. [Pdf] * Canny Old Socrates IF HE HAD GIVEN US any precise notion of the nature of his demon, he would have squandered a good part of his glory. His canny caution stirred as much curiosity about him…

“The snares of wisdom” (E. M. Cioran)

The Hudson Review, vol. 19, No. 4 (Winter, 1966-1967), pp. 539-550 Translated from French by Frederick Brown. Once we realize to what depth appearances are credited by the normal consciousness, it becomes impossible to endorse the Vedantic thesis according to which "non-distinction is the soul's natural state." What is meant here by natural state is the…