Anathemas And Admirations

In this collection of essays and epigrams, E.M. Cioran gives us portraits and evaluations—which he calls "admirations"—of Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the poet Paul Valery, and Mircea Eliade, among others. In alternating sections of aphorisms—his "anathemas"—he delivers insights on such topics as solitude, flattery, vanity, friendship, insomnia, music, mortality, God, and the lure of disillusion.

“Instead of accumulating wisdom, he has shed certainties. Instead of reaching out to touch someone, he has fastidiously cultivated his exemplary solitude. If he is an aphorist, he's one who resembles Nietzsche, not Kahlil Gibran.”—Edmund White, The New York Times

This timely and much needed critical study is devoted to the writing of Witold Gombrowicz, one of the most important Slavic writers in the twentieth century. Written from a variety of theoretical perspectives, ranging from poststructuralism to queer theory and postcolonialism, this book examines the complexity of Gombrowicz's texts in the context of the current reappraisals of the mixed legacies of modernism. By situating Gombrowicz's work in relation to Eastern and Western European as well as Argentinean cultures, Gombrowicz's Grimaces rethinks the significance of literary modernism in light of philosophical modernity, queer sexuality, subaltern identities, and limits of national culture. Starting with the considerations of Gombrowicz's aesthetics and his philosophical interests, this book addresses the ways in which the experience of cultural displacement—Gombrowicz's exile in Argentina and France—informs his literary career, and ends with a discussion of the cultural implications of Gombrowicz's philosophy of form for his critique of nationalism and the explorations of queer eroticism.

Squarely challenging a culture obsessed with success, an acclaimed philosopher argues that failure is vital to a life well lived, curing us of arrogance and self-deception and engendering humility instead. Our obsession with success is hard to overlook. Everywhere we compete, rank, and measure. Yet this relentless drive to be the best blinds us to something vitally important: the need to be humble in the face of life’s challenges. Costica Bradatan mounts his case for failure through the stories of four historical figures who led lives of impact and meaning—and assiduously courted failure. Their struggles show that engaging with our limitations can be not just therapeutic but transformative. In Praise of Failure explores several arenas of failure, from the social and political to the spiritual and biological. It begins by examining the defiant choices of the French mystic Simone Weil, who, in sympathy with exploited workers, took up factory jobs that her frail body could not sustain. From there we turn to Mahatma Gandhi, whose punishing quest for purity drove him to ever more extreme acts of self-abnegation. Next we meet the self-styled loser E. M. Cioran, who deliberately turned his back on social acceptability, and Yukio Mishima, who reveled in a distinctly Japanese preoccupation with the noble failure, before looking to Seneca to tease out the ingredients of a good life. Gleefully breaching the boundaries between argument and storytelling, scholarship and spiritual quest, Bradatan concludes that while success can make us shallow, our failures can lead us to humbler, more attentive, and better lived lives. We can do without success, but we are much poorer without the gifts of failure.

Hiding in Plain Sight is a captivating exploration of the intricate relationship between language and the concealed order of human existence. Drawing on existentialist philosophy, literature, poetry, etymology and historical analysis, it delves into the hidden significance of everyday words and the powerful impact they have on our understanding of the world and our place within it. Journey into the heart of language to reveal its power in shaping our existence and perception of reality.

Published in association with the seminar series of the same name held by the University of Oxford, Samuel Beckett: Debts and Legacies presents the best new scholarship addressing the sources, development and ongoing influence of Samuel Beckett's work. Edited by convenors Dr Peter Fifield and Dr David Addyman, the volume presents ten research essays by leading international scholars ranging across Beckett's work, opening up new avenues of enquiry and association for scholars, students and readers of Beckett's work. Among the subjects covered the volume includes studies of: ·Beckett and the influence of new media 1956-1960 ·the influence of silent film on Beckett's work ·death, loss and Ireland in Beckett's drama - tracing Irish references in Beckett's plays from the 1950s and 1960s, including Endgame, All That Fall, Krapp's Last Tape and Eh Joe ·a consideration of Beckett's theatrical notebooks and annotated copies of his plays which provide a unique insight into his attitude toward the staging of his plays, the ways he himself interpreted his texts and approached theatrical practice. ·the French text of the novel Mercier et Camier, which both biographically and aesthetically appeared at a very significant moment in Beckett's career and indicates a crucial development in his writing ·the matter of tone in Beckett's drama, offering a new reading of the ways in which this elusive property emerges and can be read in the relationship between published text, canon and performance

This book brings together the study of modern fiction, tragedy, chance, and the natural world. It will appeal to graduate students and researchers interested in British and European modernism, philosophy, science and literature, and classical reception studies. It will also interest scholars studying the novel or tragedy more generally.