Beckett wrote to me about my book Démiurge, "In your ruins I find shelter."From EM Cioran's Cahiers 1957-1972. This and eight other extracts are from the time Cioran was friendly with Beckett. They were translated by Thomas Cousineau.
18 May 1970.
At a rehearsel of La dernière bande, when I said to Mme. B that Sam was truly despairing and that I was surprised that he was able to continue, to "live," etc., she replied: "There's another side to him." This answer applies, on a lesser scale to be sure, to myself as well.
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Thanks for pointing out these translations. Just today I tried again to find out why Cioran's "Notebooks" were scrapped from Arcade's line a few years ago (Rest-In-Peace Dick Seaver). LibraryThing and a couple other sites include a book cover (maroon, in the style of the other Arcade editions) with the stamp "to be destroyed." This is tantalizing -- does the translation exist as a galley I might one day stumble upon?
ReplyDeleteMore searching revealed that a selection from the Arcade book was published in Conjunctions, issue 31. I ordered one. I hope they included a long excerpt from a crucial year of his life.
I'd completely forgotten about Conjunctions 31. Having just dug it out of storage, I can tell you the selection is 30 pages long.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Steiner reviewed the French edition for the TLS. He wasn't very impressed and pointed out one or two cutting remarks directed at Blanchot. Bad Emile.