Lacrimi Si Sfinti: A Collection of Essays by Emil Cioran
Lacrimi Si Sfinti (Tears and Saints) is a book by the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran, published in 1937. It consists of 12 essays that explore the relationship between mysticism, suffering, and creativity. Cioran draws on various sources, such as Christian saints, Eastern mystics, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, and his own personal experience, to express his views on the paradoxes of faith, the role of pain in artistic creation, and the meaning of existence.
The book is considered one of Cioran's most original and provocative works, as well as one of his most lyrical and poetic. It reveals his fascination with the mystical dimension of life, as well as his struggle with nihilism and despair. Cioran himself described Lacrimi Si Sfinti as \"a book written with tears and blood\", and as \"a cry rather than a book\".
Lacrimi Si Sfinti Emil Cioran Pdf Free
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Lacrimi Si Sfinti is available online as a free PDF file[^2^], as well as part of a collection of Cioran's works in Romanian[^1^]. It has also been translated into several languages, including English, French, Spanish, and German. The book has influenced many writers and thinkers, such as Fernando Savater, Michel Houellebecq, Thomas Ligotti, and Slavoj Zizek.
In this article, we will briefly introduce the life and work of Emil Cioran, one of the most influential and controversial Romanian philosophers and writers of the 20th century.
Biography
Emil Cioran was born in 1911 in RÄÈinari, a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, raised under the rule of a father who was a Romanian Orthodox priest and a mother who was prone to depression.[^1^] He showed an early interest in literature and philosophy, and studied at the University of Bucharest, where he became friends with other prominent intellectuals such as Mircea Eliade, EugÃne Ionesco, and Constantin Noica. He was influenced by the ideas of Nae Ionescu, a charismatic professor who advocated for a radical nationalism and a mystical Christianity.[^1^]
In 1933, Cioran received a scholarship to study at the University of Berlin, where he was exposed to the rise of Nazism and developed a fascination with Hitler and his ideology. He later expressed regret for his youthful enthusiasm for fascism, which he renounced after World War II.[^1^] In 1937, he published his first book in Romanian, On the Heights of Despair, a collection of aphorisms and essays that expressed his nihilistic and pessimistic views on life, death, God, suffering, and art. The book won him the King Carol II Foundation Young Writer's Prize.[^2^]
That same year, Cioran moved to Paris, where he would spend the rest of his life. He became a stateless person after Romania became a communist country in 1948 and revoked his citizenship. He also switched to writing in French, which he considered a more precise and elegant language than Romanian. He published several books in French, such as A Short History of Decay (1949), The Trouble with Being Born (1973), and Drawn and Quartered (1979), which established him as one of the most original and provocative thinkers of his time. His style was marked by irony, sarcasm, paradoxes, and lyrical intensity. He explored themes such as the meaninglessness of existence, the absurdity of faith, the futility of history, the vanity of culture, and the impossibility of happiness.[^1^]
Major Themes and Style
Cioran's philosophy can be described as a radical form of philosophical pessimism, which denies any positive value or purpose to human life. He rejected any metaphysical or moral system that claimed to provide certainty or consolation. He also criticized any form of rationalism or idealism that tried to impose order or coherence on reality. He saw existence as a tragic accident, a cosmic joke, a curse that should never have been. He wrote: \"We are born without reason; we prolong ourselves out of weakness; we die by chance.\"[^3^]
Cioran was also fascinated by the mystical dimension of life, especially by the figures of Christian saints and Eastern sages who renounced the world and sought union with God or Nirvana. He admired their courage and sincerity, but also questioned their illusions and contradictions. He saw mysticism as a form of madness, a desperate attempt to escape from reality. He wrote: \"Mysticism is nothing but an extreme expression of our unhappiness; it is an attempt to turn our despair into ecstasy.\"
Cioran's style was influenced by his reading of aphorists such as Blaise Pascal, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Paul ValÃry. He preferred to write short sentences that captured an insight or an emotion with clarity and force. He used rhetorical devices such as antithesis, hyperbole, oxymoron, and paradox to create contrast and tension. He also employed irony and sarcasm to mock himself and others. He wrote: \"I am not sincere even when I say I am not.\" 29c81ba772