Cioran. O mitologie a nedesăvârșirilor

Eugen Simion studies Cioran’s work and the man who wrote it. He shows how life’s limits shaped this thinker. He also explores Cioran’s deep sadness, which found no end. This book of literary criticism offers readers a close study of Cioran.

Simion shifts through time and place, with no straight path. He goes back to past points as his case grows. Each chapter can, for the most part, stand on its own. Yet each adds to the full view of Cioran. Simion draws on mereology: the study of parts and wholes. He links each part of Cioran’s work to his wider self.

Simion brings years of work on books to this study. He was born in Chiojdeanca, Prahova, in 1933. He studied in Ploiești and Bucharest. Tudor Vianu was one of his teachers. Others were Alexandru Rosetti and Iorgu Iordan. He earned his doctorate in 1969 under Șerban Cioculescu. His research dealt with Eugen Lovinescu. He also worked on the Romanian Academy’s Eminescu team. Perpessicius led that team.

He began to write for the literary press in 1960. For decades, he wrote book reviews for Gazeta literară and România literară. He taught at the University of Bucharest. He became a professor in 1990. From 1970 to 1973, he lectured at Paris IV, Sorbonne.

Simion joined the Romanian Academy in 1991. He became its vice-president in 1994. He served as president from 1998 to 2006. In 1999, he founded the National Foundation for Science and Art. He also led it. There, he launched a series of Romanian classics. He also issued facsimiles, or copies, of Eminescu’s manuscripts. These filled 38 volumes, issued between 2002 and 2009. He headed the G. Călinescu Institute. In that role, he oversaw a dictionary of Romanian literature. It filled seven volumes.

He wrote more than 30 books of literary criticism and history. Universities in Romania and abroad gave him honorary doctorates. He also held academy memberships in France and Denmark. He held them in Greece and Serbia too.