'The fanatic is incorruptible: if he kills for an idea, he can just as well get himself killed for one; in either case, tyrant or martyr, he is a monster'
A Short History of Decay (1949) is E. M. Cioran's nihilistic and witty collection of aphoristic essays concerning the nature of civilization in mid-twentieth century Europe. Touching upon Man's need to worship, the feebleness of God, the downfall of the Ancient Greeks and the melancholy baseness of all existence, Cioran's pieces are pessimistic in the extreme, but also display a beautiful certainty that renders them delicate, vivid, and memorable.
Illuminating and brutally honest, A Short History of Decay dissects humankind's decadence in a remarkable series of moving and beautiful pieces.
- Directions for Decomposition
- The Second-Hand Thinker
- Faces of Decadence
- Sanctity and the Grimaces of the Absolute
- The Décor of Knowledge
- Abdications
“When A Short History of Decay was published, it tended to polarize readers. Many dismissed it as overly morose and pessimistic, completely out of tune with the obligatory optimism of postwar European culture. Others praised it for precisely these reasons (in his review of the book, Maurice Nadeau proclaimed Cioran ‘the one whose arrival has been prepared by all the philosophers of the void and of the absurd, harbinger of bad news par excellence’). The original impact of Cioran’s book can still be felt in reading A Short History of Decay today.”—Eugene Thacker, from his Foreword
