Searching for Cioran

Appendix 2: Articles by Cioran Reflecting His Experiences in Germany

Appendix 2 Articles by Cioran Reflecting His Experiences in Germany A certain amount of confusion surrounds Cioran’s writings about Germany and his experiences there. This is understandable, given his controversial polemical stature. His detractors want to emphasize the worst pieces, those most uncritically enthusiastic about Hitler and the new Nazi regime. His defenders naturally seek to ignore or minimize these. Singurătate şi destin: Publicistică 1931–1944 [Solitude and Destiny] published in Bucharest by Humanitas in 1991, includes seventy-five of Cioran’s periodical writings for the dates given, but omits almost all political articles, to achieve the book’s predominantly literary and “philosophical”—that is, non-political—aspect.1 Some, but by no means all, of these essays appeared in right-wing journals. Many are political, but the majority are not (for example, “The Vision of Death in Nordic Art,” “Faith and Despair,” “Style and Eschatology”). Aurel Cioran made a list for IZJ of forty-six “articles published in various periodicals by E. Cioran” (her note), which may or may not have purported to be complete for the 1930s. Thirty-one of the articles he listed appear in Solitude and Destiny, but fifteen do not, including three from Cioran’s years in Germany, none of which are (from their titles) evidently about political topics. But Aurel had been a member of the Iron Guard and went to prison for it, and he had his own reasons for downplaying this aspect of his brother’s œuvre. IZJ made another list of eleven “articles by Cioran from Germany,” only one of which appears in Solitude and Destiny (“The Historical Silence of Spain”), and none in Aurel Cioran’s list. In 1999, Marta Petreu listed fourteen political and historical articles written by Cioran between November 1933 and July 1935, as included among a larger number of “German articles” he wrote, from which she distinguishes philosophical pieces later included in Cartea amăgirilor [The Book of Deceptions], 1936, and some 240 Appendix 2 (another fourteen or more) incorporated into The Transfiguration of Romania.2 These include seven of the eleven listed by IZJ, which however also includes pieces written after Cioran’s return to Romania. These differences do not necessarily reflect editorial or authorial manipulation or suppression, or simple errors of attribution. Some arise from differences in the chronological period being covered; others, from varying categorical definitions of what constitutes “philosophical,” “historical,” or “political” writing. Between the three of them, Aurel Cioran, Marta Petreu, and IZJ list over fifty articles as pertaining to Cioran’s German experience in one way or another, of which seventeen derive from the time of his actual residence there. Eight of these seventeen specify German topics in their titles. From 1933: “The German Aspect,” “From the University of Berlin,” and “Germany and France or the Illusory Peace.” From 1934: “Problematical Ethics in Germany,” “Letters from Munich: Romania from Abroad,” “Impressions from Munich: Hitler in the German Conscience,” “Letters from Germany : The Revolt of the Villagers,” and, probably, “Dictatorship and the Problem of the Young.” Looked at from the outside, without analyzing the contents of all these essays, one can draw two obvious conclusions. First, that Cioran was a very prolific writer, producing perhaps over a hundred periodical essays during the 1930s, at times under the most difficult personal and political circumstances (though he thrived on adversity), while also composing and publishing half a dozen books—several of which naturally incorporated material from some of these essays. Second, that his most vehemently fascistic, pro-Hitler articles constitute somewhere between ten and twenty percent of his output during this time. To allow readers to form their own partial conclusions, one of the essays from Cioran’s German period is printed below, and an excerpt from another, both translated by Ioana Patuleanu. [KRJ] Impressions from Munich: Hitler in the German Consciousness Vremea [The Times], 15 July 1934 Mr. Emil Cioran, our correspondent in Germany, who happened to be in Munich when the recent events that shook the entire world took place, sends his report. As one can see in the lines below, our correspondent merely sketches a portrait of Hitler, the way he thinks that the Germans see him at this moment. As far as the drama itself is concerned, Mr. Cioran refrains from sending any details. The events that took place in Munich at the beginning of last week remain, therefore, shrouded in the same mystery.3 [18.219.112.111] Project MUSE (2024-04-16 10:50 GMT...