Emil Cioran's reflections on Dostoevsky, Christianity, and suicide. 1976.

Emil CIORAN

Autograph letter signed to Gabriel Matzneff.

Two pages in-4°. Autograph envelope.

Paris. February 29, 1976.

"Your encounters with Montherlant have documentary value. The lesson we learn from them is that no suicide is improvised."

A remarkable letter from the Romanian philosopher on Dostoevsky, Christianity, Montherlant, and suicide.

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“Dear Sir, You are right to cultivate the fragment—which is always a fragment of life, whereas the essay, the novel, ‘philosophy,’ and the rest necessarily have something artificial, something deliberate about them. It’s a shame, I sometimes think, that Dostoevsky needed to earn money, to write long books, when we could have had a direct account of his moods and crises. (Speaking of Dostoevsky, are you familiar with the name of Clidlovsky, one of his childhood friends? He’s someone who might appeal to you, it seems to me. I recommend the pages (140–144) that Dominique Arban devotes to him in ‘Dostoevsky’s Apprenticeship’).”

What I love most about "This Straitjacket of Flame" is the temptation and the rejection of Christianity, the rejection in particular. You are Christian only in your "morbid" aspects. Ultimately, Christianity's only excuse is to make us regret what came before it . Have I ever told you that when we read you, we laugh, or smile? It's the best sign that what you write is invigorating , to use a term you cherish. Your encounters with Montherlant have documentary value. The lesson we draw from them is that no suicide is improvised. Yours very sincerely, Cioran.

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Published in 1976, "This straitjacket of flame" is the first volume of the Journal published by Gabriel Matzneff.