Searching for Cioran 
A critical portrait of French philosopher and mystic EM Cioran "Intellectual history at its best. Elegantly written, meticulously researched, and subtly nuanced, this book will be read to All Those interested in the intellectual torments of the 20th century. "
-
Vladimir Tismaneanu , author of Fantasies of Salvation
"Very Valuable and beautifully written... Introducing her exciting subject in a context broad enough even for those who don't know much about Cioran."
—
Irina Livezeanu , author of Cultural Politics in Greater Romania
Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston's critical biography of the Romanian-born French philosopher E. M. Cioran focuses on his crucial formative years as a mystical revolutionary attracted to right-wing nationalist politics in interwar Romania, his writings of this period, and his self-imposed exile to France in 1937. This move led to his transformation into one of the most famous French moralists of the 20th century. As an enthusiast of the anti-rationalist philosophies widely popular in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century, Cioran became an advocate of the fascistic Iron Guard. In her quest to understand how Cioran and other brilliant young intellectuals could have been attracted to such passionate national revival movements, Zarifopol-Johnston, herself a Romanian emigré, sought out the aging philosopher in Paris in the early 1990s and retraced his steps from his home village of Rasinari and youthful years in Sibiu, through his student years in Bucharest and Berlin, to his early residence in France. Her portrait of Cioran is complemented by an engaging autobiographical account of her rediscovery of her own Romanian past.
Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston (1952—2005) was Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. She translated two books by E. M. Cioran from Romanian, On the Heights of Despair and Tears and Saints, and is author of To Kill a Text: The Dialogic Fiction of Hugo, Dickens and Zola.
Kenneth R. Johnston is Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is author of The Hidden Wordsworth: Poet, Lover, Rebel, Spy and co-editor of Romantic Revolutions: Criticism and Theory (IUP, 1990). He lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Table of Contents Foreword (
Matei Calinescu )
Editor's Preface
Chronology: E.M. Cioran
I. The Romanian Life of Emil Cioran
Introduction: Cioran's Revenge
1. Rasinari, Transylvania, 1911-1921
2. Sibiu, 1921-1928
3. Bucharest, 1928-1933
4. Berlin, 1933-1935
5. Romania's Transfiguration, 1935-1937
6. Romania's Transfiguration: Continuing Controversy
7. Tears & Saints, 1937
8. Stranger in Paris
9. The Lyrical Virtues of Totalitarianism
II. Memoirs of a Publishing Scoundrel
Prelude
Paris, 1992-1994
Romania, 1994
Paris, 1995
Romania, 1995-1997
Postlude
Bibliography
Index
Biographical Notice: Ilinca Zarifopol-Johnston
Distribution: Worldwide
Format: cloth 272 pages, 10 b&w photos, 1 maps, 6 1 / 8 x 9 1 / 4
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-35267-5
Publisher: Indiana University Press
December 17, 2008
Amazon USA - Searching for Cioran Amazon UK - Searching for Cioran
