A writer who does stupid things in his youth is like a woman with a shameful past―never forgiven; never forgotten. E. M. Cioran; the renowned Romanian-French nihilist philosopher and literary figure; knew this better than anyone. Alongside Heidegger; Sartre; Paul de Mann; and others; Cioran was one of the great scholars of the twentieth century to be seduced by totalitarianism: he experienced a most disturbing intellectual and moral drama. More than any other study of Cioran; Marta Petreu's intensive investigation of his life and work confronts the central problem of his biography: his relationship with political extremism. The scene of Cioran's excesses is Romania and Europe in the 1930s and 1940s; a time of xenophobia; anti-Semitism; racism; Nazism; and Stalinism. In an incendiary book published in the mid-thirties; Cioran openly praised Hitler and Lenin and compared the leader of the fanatical Romanian Iron Guard to Jesus himself. This book; The Transfiguration of Romania; is the focal element of Ms. Petreu's analysis; which she carries on to Cioran's posthumously published Notebooks; characterized by the regret and remorse of his twilight years. In straightforward and lucid prose; grounded in a wealth of documentary evidence; she provides the entire history of a painful individual and collective drama. For many of Cioran's yearnings would later be realized in Ceausescu's dictatorship of Romania―to the regret of the Romanian people. Norman Manea's Foreword reminds us of Cioran's stature in Western intellectual circles and explains the critical importance of An Infamous Past.
#61815 in Books 2001-02-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.06 x .85 x 4.38l; .52 #File Name: 1565481542320 pages
Review
87 of 89 people found the following review helpful. Breathtaking translationBy J. GormanThis is a fresh and wonderful translation of this Christian classic. Sr Boulding is herself a fine poet capable of touching turns of phrase such as; [Book I;5]"Who will grant me to find peace in you? Who will grant me this grace; that you would come into my heart and inebriate it; enabling me to forget the evils that beset me and embrace me my only good?"Albert Outler (no mean wroughter of words himself) translates this passage in this way;"Who shall bring me to rest in thee? Who will send thee into my heart so to overwhelm it that my sins shall be blotted out and I may embrace thee; my only good?"The loss of the "thees" are of course helpful to the modern reader; but the use of "that you would come into my heart and inebriate it;" is just; well; stunning.One final comparison with Outler in the well-known passage in book ten:Outler: "Belatedly I loved thee; O Beauty so ancient and so new; belatedly I loved thee. For see; thou wast within and I was without; and I sought thee out there. Unlovely; I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things thou hast made. Thou wast with me; but I was not with thee."Boulding: "Late have I loved you; Beauty so ancient and so new. Late have I loved you! Lo; you were within; but I outside; seeking there for you; and upon the shapely things you have made; I rushed headlong. I; mishappen."Both use Augustine's marvelous play on the words "formosa" and "deformis" But Sr. Boulding's choice of shapely and misshapen retains Augustine's intentions and poetic voice; it seems to me.This is a lovely work.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. An excellent new translation of a great book.By BVLenciI've read this book several times before; with different translations. This is the best I've seen.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. ProfoundBy T. SeegerDaughter used for school; she said excellent book for creating discussion
