A Short History of Decay by E. M. Cioran

Dissects Man's decadence in a remarkable series of moving and beautiful pieces. “To miss reading this book would be a deprivation.”—Los Angeles Times E. M. Cioran confronts the place of today's world in the context of human history—focusing on such major issues of the twentieth century as human progress, fanaticism, and science—in this nihilistic and witty collection of aphoristic essays concerning the nature of civilization in mid-twentieth-century Europe. Table of Contents:ForewordDirections for DecompositionThe Second-Hand ThinkerFaces of DecadenceSanctity and the Grimaces of the AbsoluteThe Décor of KnowledgeAbdications 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, “When A Short History of Decay was published, it tended