Emil Cioran congratulates Gabriel Matzneff on his latest work. 1972.

Emil Cioran

Autographed letter signed to Gabriel Matzneff.

One page in-8°. Autograph envelope.

Paris. May 13, 1972.

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“Dear Sir, It is an act of courage to have quoted one of your comrades’ remarks about you: ‘ the atheist with the candle.’ This quip was present in my mind on every page of your book. I should add immediately that I admire your way of making yourself vulnerable. You rearrange orthodoxy to suit your own purposes, but you acknowledge it, which makes your engagement with it sincere. You have succeeded, and this too is not a criticism, in accumulating a body of work not so much through contradictions as through incompatibilities. On a spiritual level, this is undoubtedly a mistake; but on a literary level, an advantage and a merit. Yours sincerely, Cioran.”