Emil Cioran - The Trouble With Being Born BOOK REVIEW

BUY HERE:
amzn.to/3CSnXSM
Sources:
1. 1973 Interview: • Video
2. Costica Bradaton: lareviewofbooks.org/article/p...
3. School of Life: www.theschooloflife.com/artic...
4. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Ci...
SUPPORT / PATREON:
/ booksarebetterthanfood
INSTAGRAM: @booksarebetterthanfood
/ booksarebetterthanfood
MUG:
www.zazzle.com/better_than_fo...
-----------------------
PATREON INFO:
For $5+ per video Patrons you'll receive (in addition to all below):
Entered in the Book & Coffee Jar
For $1+ per video Patrons you'll get access to:
Patron-Only Reviews
All Reviews Ad-Free
Discord Channel
Better Than Friday Newsletter (5 things I'm interested in sent to you every Friday)
-------------------------------
PATRON ONLY REVIEWS:
The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
/ myth-of-sisyphus-80534135
H.P. Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu (Halloween Special)
/ call-of-cthulhu-74055549
Hamlet: Poem Unlimited by Harold Bloom
/ 66203438
10 Books to Be Read 2022:
/ 63010254
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
/ 60574022
The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop - Halloween 2021
/ 58073911
Death in Midsummer by Yukio Mishima
/ 55759685
Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard
/ 53139833
The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki
/ 51134117
Platforms by Nina Power
/ 48914140
Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
/ 45465524
Bookshelf Tour 2020:
Part 1: / 41287302
Part 2: / 42817306
Part 3: / 43783138
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
/ 38823138
Margery Kempe by Robert Glück
/ 38645694
Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov
/ 37527267
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
/ 35574016
11 Books to be read in 2020:
/ 33921584
Atomic Habits by James Clear
/ 32697977
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
/ 30969884
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
/ 29515320
Reading is Expensive (A Rant)
/ 29065141
White by Bret Easton Ellis
/ 26771749
A Room on the Garden Side by Ernest Hemingway
/ 21573550
The Return by Roberto Bolaño
/ 21019229
Darkness Visible by William Styron
/ 20276630
"Blindness", an essay by Jorge Luis Borges
/ 19529985
The Alligators by John Updike
/ 18428537
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
/ 17281418
Animal Crackers in My Soup by Charles Bukowski
/ 16924023
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
/ 16133547

[@mr.knownothing33]

A suicidal misanthrope insomniac nihilist philosopher that lived to be 84-this is very inspiring and motivational 😁

[@thembamabona9809]

yeah, he penned water and lived wine, delicious water! Heights of Despair too is superb 🎉

[@lepetitchat123]

Poor guy who had to endure misery for so long :(

[@kevin4680]

@@lepetitchat123 Right? If I make it to 69 that'll be my limit

[@incorectulpolitic]

In another words a non-coward realist living in reality, not a coward NPC busy running away/denying reality 24/7.

[@mariaradulovic3203]

Yes, all humans have something called preservation instinct, otherwise, 50% of us would leave this shit show a long time ago.

[@NoSoulNoToll]

If Noah had seen into the future, he would have sunk his ship - E.M.Cioran

[@brendabeamerford4555]

Rebel Rebel Rebel.. No one can think for another no one can forgive for another no one can learn for another.. We are all created unique complete individual Immaculate conceptions from first light learning the infinite Powerhouse of our mind 369 bodyin spirit.. Conscious atonement power 3 sets all captives free from all the chains that bind us. Luciferian knowledge of what is love what is light what is third eye sight says I am light Never Dies death is our illusion through the terrible twos of childhood in Mercy Mercy Me and our promise rest is real o Israel as we see third eye vision power 3 sets all captives free from all the chains that bind us MeTAtron's MAtriX3x3 OM'E... "The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental." "As above, so below; as below, so above.” "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." Everything is ALLMIND369 OVEONE IAM=O=QuantuM⚖️ ALLMIND IN 3in1MINDS Body Spirit OVE light*3÷7 color*3÷7 sound*3÷7.. infinite all mind in Trinity every thought has an opposite charge of itself. ♂️+01=0=-01♀️ Riding the waves through our moments in equilibrium is A NEW beginning in masteRING3X369 of our OWN each individual unique complete Immaculate conceived MIND 1IN3💚3IN1 of IAM 1LOVES Light3 3 above our heArt 3 below 7 sums 7SUMS CREATION ALLMIND frequency vibration in THOUGHTS charge MC² in WAVES OVE 3SOUNDs7 1Frequency. ... Amplitude. ... 2Timbre. ... Envelope. ... ***3Velocity. ... Wavelength. ... Phase =SUM.7 3 Lights7: 1 radio waves,÷ microwaves, 2infrared (IR)÷ visible light, ***3ultraviolet ÷ X-rays Sum Gamma rays SUM7x 6 COLORs 7 1 Red÷ Orange 2Yellow÷ Green ***3. Blue÷ Indigo SUM Violet SUM7 9 In seven colors seven notes seven lights in infinite divisions ALL TOGETHER Creating all living systems, Creating All living bodies, Creating all gravity, Creating all matter.. IN ElectroMAGnetic geometrical symmetrical fractal order HerMEs TrisMAjistus THOTH TimesFaceInEnergy Thoth me Light Never Dies death is our illusion through the terrible twos of childhood in Mercy Mercy Me and our promise rest is real.. Prisoners law in three power three sets all captives free 3Consciousness says I see you Mirror Mirror I see me wisdoms wisdom's wisdoms unconditional love and forgiveness is key ⚖️ EnKi 🗝

[@incorectulpolitic]

but noah did see the future, he was trying to survive the future that was overflown with water

[@NoSoulNoToll]

@@incorectulpolitic he was merely told about the flood. Nobody told him about the details.

[@tridge191]

That made me laugh out loud

[@heeseunglee6605]

I was shocked how simple and easy to read Emil’s book is. It really changed my pov of how simple and fun philosophy can be.

[@zenape619]

Cioran always cheers me up.

[@martindoroty7157]

A romanian fan here! Back then there was a famous trio of romanian intelectuals, Cioran, Eliade and Eugen Ionesco. They all lived in Paris, at least for a while and the bar where they were meeting still exists there. I would like to hear your review on Ionesco’s plays. He was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century.

[@jcmea13]

What bar did they meet at?

[@martindoroty7157]

Cafe de Flore, 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain

[@musa5950]

Interesting. In the “Hagakure - The Book of the Samurai“, Yamamoto Tsunetomo also describes how having the mindset of being already dead allows fearlessness and acceptance of death, whenever it comes.

[@thembamabona9809]

….words only ….when it comes it sucks ….and then one is gone

[@thadtuiol1717]

@@thembamabona9809 Forever

[@RasmusKarlJensen]

Love having a literary diet of Cioran, Houellebecq, and Ligotti.

[@MyFakeIronTrees]

5:50 - Nietzsche said something similar in Beyond Good and Evil (aphorism 157): ‘The thought of ____ is a great consolation: by means of it one gets through many a dark night.'

[@marvin_pumpt]

Another sweet review Cliff! Thank you for being you and doing these!

[@Buddhamonkeydevil]

My absolute favorite philosopher who I learned about from your channel. I have everything I can find by him translated into English--he speaks to me like no other writer or philosopher--books I could have written if I'd had the words...

[@Formandformlessness]

When I’m for a new book channel and the first review I see is Ciroan, that’s an instant subscription. Excellent video! Can’t wait to explore the rest of the channel.

[@alfsmith7210]

I've had this sitting on my shelf for about a year, this review has inspired me to finally begin. Thank you Mr Sargeant.

[@user-gj8qc1it7c]

I had been subscribed for a while, and it's such a pleasant surprise to see a review of Cioran's, a Romanian author, work on your channel. Thank you for your work!

[@jcmea13]

I’m currently reading Threshold because you reviewed it on this channel and in that book he mentions The Trouble with Being Born so this review couldn’t have come at a better time! Thanks as always for your great recommendations

[@apeshit4921]

This book has been on my to be read list like forever. Now seems the best time. Thanks as always

[@reaganwiles_art]

Thank you. Perfect timing.

[@mad6582]

Wow what a fantastic reivew. Definitely did this one justice, as always. Thanks for sharing!

[@kyleforde8424]

I was considering reading it a couple years back. I'm not very active in following the channel but that video you mentioned was what got me here. Don't regret the read after watching.

[@Capthowdy098]

Your intro already sold me on this book 😂.

[@joejs7659]

Great review.

[@arafatsafin650]

This is one of those reviews that comes right from the heart. Keep up the good work.

[@pendule_de_foucault8967]

Hey man. We used to talk in G.Cs streams , it makes sense i'd find you here. How is your life , everything good ?

[@arafatsafin650]

@@pendule_de_foucault8967 Hey, what's up? A lot happened to me. But now I am doing better. How is it going with you?

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

Cioran is great if you're into pessimism and antinatalism, (which I am), although I'm not sure how great a philosopher he actually was. So much of his work just seemed to be his thoughts jotted down and scattered ruminations, without the same foundation of logic that underlies most philosophy. Still, he was a unique voice, and a lot of what he was about really resonates with me. Great review. :)

[@elbrown9242]

I think he'd be really pleased to read this comment, given his views on the value of philosophy and the futility of systematic and organised thought. He's more of an anti philosopher really. Relevant aphorism might actually be in this book.

[@JohnChant0045]

Cioran never wrote because he wanted to disseminate a message, he wrote purely for himself

[@joshuajackson530]

I would say that "On The Heights of Despair" and "A Short History of Decay" are more in line with the idea of "typical" philosophical essays. Imo in those works his understanding of philosophy is really good and his expressions of his ideas are excellent as well. He's more of a philosopher in the sense that Pascal and Nietzsche were then say Kant or Hume.

[@tangerinesarebetterthanora7060]

​@@elbrown9242antiphilosophy is the best type of philosophy because these philosophers don't pretend like they don't have biases, individual preferences, and an innately unique perspective that could never come to an objective principle.

[@incorectulpolitic]

pessimism and antinatalsim .. in other words being into reality

[@marclowther3823]

Great review. Love Cioran's work. Got 10 of his books that are in English translation that are all wonderful reads. He has a 1000 page book of notebooks that I would love to see translated into a new English version but have only seen it in French.

[@bertiemarshall3391]

I think it’s always valuable to re read your favourite books every decade of your life….read Nabokov in my 20s not much gleamed then reading again now in my 60s👍👍👍👍

[@littledebby365]

I enjoy reading Hemingway again in my 60's. Especially "Islands In The Stream". I think I've read it about 6 times.

[@AnticitizenOneC17]

I believe the quote you were searching for is actually in "The Trouble with Being Born" at the top of page 77 in your edition: "We dread the future only when we are not sure we can kill ourselves when we want to." Huge fan of Cioran and I just found your channel today (thank you algorithm 🥳). Your tastes and mine seem to overlap significantly so I look forward to more of your recommendations!

[@higorbrunieri9199]

Loved that you mentioned Lydia Lunch, for I too discovered Cioran through that same interview! Also highly recomended by her, I always wondered if you read 'The demon flower' by Jo Imog? (as a fan of Bataille, that might be your cup of tea). It would be lovely to have a review of yours on that masterpiece.

[@kevinkrochak2546]

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to find your channel. Been a fan of Cioran's dark humor for years and enjoyed your review. You do a great job. Liked and subbed!

[@elbrown9242]

It's a wonderful book, very much concur on the surprisingly relaxing nature of much of Cioran's writing. It is just a relief to see these things on the page sometimes. Eugene Thacker is worth reading in this vein, although he is much more aphoristic in Cosmic Pessimism (if you can find it) and Infinite Resignation, which is something of an extension to the former.

[@Melnokina.-.]

I love Emil, he helped me get through my darkest times

[@kekobahama224]

The pattern in cliffs life is that he gets most of his favorite book recommendations from Lidia lunch interviews 🤣

[@thadtuiol1717]

I once got really nervous before a big presentation at work for an audience of 100+ people, I was even throwing up in the bathroom just 10 minutes before it was due to start...then I remembered Cioran, and I no longer gave a shit cuz none of this shit matters. Breezed it. Thanks Emil!

[@MrUndersolo]

I think he may be one of the greatest humourists I have ever read! And I want more!

[@aray4031]

Hunter Thompson also said something very similar (re: the consolation of self-deletion as a means to live.)

[@MrGrimlocke]

After watching this review, I immediately downloaded the book on my Kindle. This sounds like it'll be a good read

[@ashleylamont7687]

Me thinks your channel is better than food...

[@taddybear4244]

I fucking love Cioran's work. Excellent and interesting writer.

[@nicdelmundo5687]

great video

[@marqpsmythe228]

“I live only because it is in my power to die when I choose to: without the idea of suicide, I’d have killed myself right away.” All Gall Is Divided ❤

[@thomaskember4628]

I think Shakespeare summed it up more briefly with MacBeth's speech beginning "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow " and ending with "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing "

[@crackbaby4444]

I've been listening to Oneohtrix point never's song "The trouble with being born" and then you upload this. Maybe I should read the book

[@prabhupati]

05:50 This quote from roberto bolano is from the book 2666.

[@scratchedbycats]

My favorite Emil!

[@brightmooninthenight2111]

I know Cioran through the Temptations to Exist, resonated deeply with his struggle between the wordless and unsymbolic present moment and the allure of the mind and its endless labyrinth of thought and signs and the illusory nature and emptiness of these words and signs. I felt he was needlessly negative but as Cliff says it is often funny, in a dry absurd way, uncalculated, like channelling the raving and flailing of a preposterous man into a highly articulated philosophy. I think nevertheless that the nihilism of the material challenges the reader to think for themselves and confront what lurks beneath the mask of positivity to what is sincere or not, An exercise in empathy and as well a relief Because sometimes optimism becomes exhausting. There can be no empathy in it, even further there can be judgement in optimism, a dismissal of authenticity. Optimism is good and is needed. But balance. Cioran balances it out. Ultimately his writing proves that philosophy does not contain the answers. How do we become more loving despite ourselves?

[@and_such]

I love cioran and this review could you do some music recommendations or post some link to your playlist?

[@randallowen9350]

Brilliant Clifford. Just read a book from I think 2009 I missed at the time. Would you like to be in the mind of a monster? This book left me stunned. It is The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. Extraordinary!

[@mathewtoll6780]

I think Nietzsche wrote something similar about how thoughts of suicide are a great consolation. And they can get you through a long night. I think it is in Beyond Good and Evil but I might be wrong about that

[@RasmusKarlJensen]

Oh by the way, have you read “Better Never to Have Been” by David Benatar?

[@sunsetguy37]

Happy to find your channel. I am a fan of Cioran's power of suicide living, and I am inspired with more fuel to step closer to the edge. Maybe I heard some of his work in my early years, because I quietly hid my thoughts that man was a virus that was devouring earth. Fernando Paseo to Emil Cioran- time to stop cheerleading my dismal excuses for banal living. I only feel alive when I am challenged to un-think what I accepted as my thought, waking up to suffer the evaporated facade of culture that I mistook for my own. MTC with Meta/W

[@christopherviggiano9367]

15:04 “Oh yea” 😂

[@playermartin286]

This book’s certainly on Rustin Cohle’s reading list

[@nycrsny3406]

Lol 100%

[@littledebby365]

😂

[@milkbottle4u]

At some point Rust says something like “I was relieved of the sin of being a father,” which is similar to Cioran’s words in The Trouble with Being Born: “to have committed every crime but that of being a father”, so I think Rust would find a lot of agreeable stuff in there 😅

[@user-hr4wt4ke5v]

Ник Пиццилато составлял сценарий настоящего детектива и сказал что Чоран его любимый писатель

[@donaldmcronald8989]

His book 'A Fall Into Time' is a goddamn masterpiece.

[@youtubeisevil]

5:50 This idea is very prominent in Herman Hesse's novel Steppenwolf, I found that interesting as fan of both Cioran and Hesse

[@JohnChant0045]

I can highly recommend the 'philosophize this!' podcast about Cioran and his relationship to failiure.

[@michaelshannon9169]

Reading Cioran is a sacrifice - what you gain in truth you lose in life. You come out wiser but still somehow worse off.

[@arze868]

Those who want to know the truth must pay a big price to get there.

[@Petran892]

Try to understand Nietzsche to gain your life back

[@ARGRYS]

If (if, yeah!) you are suffering, read Cioran, he is a great soul to commiserate with.

[@CarlosHigg]

Either this or world as will must be my favourite book of all time

[@markantrobus8782]

Cioran was a worker. He contributed enormously.

[@Ambermarie13]

This book is my Bible. It means so much to me

[@thadtuiol1717]

The actual Bible should be your Bible.

[@tenguyubs1919]

I keep this book on my nightstand, underneath a copy of "Mathematics for economists" and on top of "Inferno".

[@bn8418]

Like the white shelves better. Great content.

[@littledebby365]

The buzzing a/c hahahaha!!!

[@netram2000]

There's a 2022 novel called "Emil" by German-Afghan writer Mariam Kühsel-Hussaini which is a fictional story on Cioran's time in Berlin. Not sure if an English edition has been published yet.

[@MagnumInnominandum]

I had never hoped to know the source of my pain and ennui. Happily learning this i am extremely disappointed, for which i am grateful.

[@robinblack9]

I hope one day you review The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan. It’s amazing.

[@PatchyTheFox]

What tier of your Patreon is it that gets you access to the Discord channel?

[@moesypittounikos]

The funniest bit in Trouble is when he writes about stopping thoughts. He says something like what an idiot is always in the natural state (no thoughts) but the rest of us fall in fits and starts and its not possible to stop thoughts when you're an intellectual! I must order the book again to check if my memory is write!

[@mariaradulovic3203]

Thank u for pronouncing his name correctly.

[@Amir-mk8tx]

Cheers

[@iqiwq]

Would be awesome if you do a review on "The Journal of a Disappointed Man" (by W.N.P. Barbellion). A gem, too!

[@mrbooboohead157]

But what about the foods that are better than books who is going to speak up for them? 😔

[@randomotaku5500]

Hey man I read story of the eye a year ago and you were about the only person talking about it so I kinda found your videos and ignored it. Now im currious if you still have that love for george battalie. Also are you willing to reveiw Tomb for 500,000 soldiers and Eden, Eden, Eden?

[@mkraulis]

Not sure if you've done a review of any Churchland books, but if you haven't delved into eliminative materialism, I would be interested in your take.

[@trashlyfe69420]

I brought a copy of this on my last camping trip out in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and my friend yelled at me… …the other book I brought for the 7 day trip was Technological Slavery 😏

[@_blue_vision_]

I need to read this and the man's other work. Pessimist literature is, despite being up my alley, often hard to actually read because of how devastating it can be, Thomas Ligotti being my favorite example. It'd be nice to read a pessimist author with a sense of humor for once lol.

[@wheresmyeyebrow1608]

12:16 IT MOVED!!!

[@kalki0273]

Optimists are the ones that depress me.

[@sangyedorje]

An awesome and funny review of an incredibly good book. Just finished Ligotti's conspiracy against the human race and Cioran is definitely an OG pessimist.

[@madworld1962]

It would have been more accurate to translate the title as, "The Inconvenience of Being Born". I don't know what was gained by substituting "trouble" instead. Title in French is, De L'Incovenient D'etre Ne (sorry, I don't know how to put the accents).

[@Snafuski]

In a strange dialiectic, Cioran gives hope, even though there is none... He did say If you are considering suicide, it's already too late... (That is an approximate quote)... "Our only choice is between unbearable truths and wholesome cheating."

[@TribuneAquila]

In fact, of everyone in the Criterion group (which included Cioran) that advocated for facism, he was the only one who lamented his association in his youth.

[@gonzoontheroad]

Haha the Elon Musk vizualication 😅 and yes! You are absolutely right Cioran is funny to read. Even in his interview he showed a lot of humor. Thanks for the review! And yes its great to re-read a good book after a period of time.

[@Skyjacker_]

Hunter S. Thompson also told Ralph Steadman that, "I would feel real trapped in this life if I didn't know I could commit suicide at any time".

[@PenixderGallier]

everything matters, because nothing matters.

[@littledebby365]

@10:30 felt like a total Charlie LeDuff moment. BTW he is still asking that.

[@rahulbaidh]

Does anyone have a copy of Cioran's Notebooks translated by Richard Howard for Arcade Publishing?

[@user-hr4wt4ke5v]

У меня есть, но она на русском)

[@philipmcgee6869]

Better than Food reviews Cioran - the planets have aligned....

[@rociomiranda5684]

I'm 60. It's true.

[@Theolddaysaregone]

The last aphorism you read is also one of my favorites! "... I endure myself. " This is so hilariously funny when you think about all that 'Learn to self-love' crap that is around in the self-help community. The truth is you will never be able to love yourself, you won't even be able to accept yourself, no my friend, you will endure yourself until your very last breath. And admitting this will paradoxically make things much easier, because you won't have to worry about all the negative thoughts about yourself. You won't have to struggle to win the impossible battle of loving yourself. You will just accept that you are going to hate yourself until death and then keep going with your day xD

[@amorfati4096]

Only one thing matters learning to be the looser!. and majority of cliques will told you though out life that there is a success after every failure, l😅

[@raleighsmalls4653]

I think this is the first time I've seen him almost truly laugh....

[@brianw.5230]

I can't beliece Cioran and other pessimists didn't fear Hell. I do!

[@mattmackane]

“Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing. That was the most arrogant and mendacious minute of "world history," but nevertheless, it was only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths, the star cooled and congealed, and the clever beasts had to die. One might invent such a fable, and yet he still would not have adequately illustrated how miserable, how shadowy and transient, how aimless and arbitrary the human intellect looks within nature. There were eternities during which it did not exist. And when it is all over with the human intellect, nothing will have happened.” - Nietzsche

[@Rapterr15]

Fans of Thomas Bernhard should also enjoy Cioran

[@thembamabona9809]

…..in case anybody’s wondering, Pessoa‘s BoD makes for the most yummy companion reading ….complementary flavours of pessimism 😊

[@Another.Brick.InTheWall]

I guess it goes without saying, but i wanna say it😂 the reader must know Cioran's life and the troubled times he lived, to better understand it. He suffered big time because of the communists in romanua, and he even ended up, that he refused to ever speak romanian again. He was a sensitive, excentric, genial and a bit crazy man 😂

[@intravenousradio]

i'm trying to identify as many books on clifford's bookshelf as I can. right now I can identify under the volcano and savage detectives and borge's collected fiction

[@MagnumInnominandum]

It seems to me that he wrote not things that people wouldn't say but rather things others could not begin to say. Things others would not dare to formulate, could not formulate constantly molding, stretching, folding oneself into the human suit popular fashion dictates. The American Dream, the righteous life of purity and self sacrifice, magnification of the self through fame, dress or wealth. All a pretence that one must achieve these or other things or that there is anything to be achieved. All distraction enough to not observe the ends and outs of this pantomime of a meaningful existence.

[@bart-v]

If you can you should read it in French. Cioran deliberately used a 19th century French, which sounds a little artificial, but it matches his idea of not writing in his mother tongue perfectly.

[@thembamabona9809]

Nihilism lends itself to beautiful, delicious and thus life-affirming prose 😅

[@RuthTirusew]

The interview "Cioran on Suicide": kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3eWc2VunayJd80

[@PadraigTomas]

The worst reproach to be made against police states is that they oblige - for prudence sake - the destruction of letters and diaries, i.e., what is least false in literature. E.M.Cioran