Eugène van Itterbeek, Les “paradis du silence”
The “paradises of silence”
The present study examines the correspondence between Emil Cioran and Armel Guerne, observing those unfrequent but yet striking fragments where the standard epistolary style is abandoned in favor of an extremely personal writing resembling more the nature of the private diary. As Cioran’s correspondence with Guerne starts in 1955 and, on the other hand, Cioran’s work at his Notebooks begins in 1957, the author presumes that this chronological parallelism is to be taken into account. The common obsession of the two letter writers is that of the “paradises of silence” (phrase coined by Guerne) – Guerne already being a citizen of the said paradises, Cioran desperately craving for it.
Keywords: Emil Cioran, Armel Guerne, correspondence, mysticism, writing and silence, “paradises of silence”.
- E.M. Cioran – A. Guerne, Lettres 1961-1978, Edition établie et annotée par Vincent Piednoir, Paris, L’Herne, 2011.
- Lettres de Guerne à Cioran 1955-1978. Edition établie, présentée et annotée par Sylvia Massias. Préface de Charles Le Brun. Editions Le Capucin, 2001.
- Les Cahiers du Moulin, 10, nr. 19, octobre 2011, comprenant des articles de Sylvia Massias et Jean-François Foulon sur la correspondance Cioran-Guerne.
- Eugène Van Itterbeek, Correspondances inédites: Emil Cioran et Armel Guerne, dans Approches critiques IV, Leuven-Sibiu, Editura Universitǎţii ‘Lucian Blaga’ et Editions Les Sept Dormants, 2003, pp. 123-132 et du même: Dieu dans les lettres de Cioran à Armel Guerne, Ibidem, 2007, pp. 22-33.
