Genesis of the Text of Émile Cioran's First French Book, “A Short History of Decay” (“Précis de Décomposition” 1949)
Genesis of the Text of Émile Cioran's First French Book, “A Short History of Decay” (“Précis de Décomposition” 1949)
Гранин Р.С.
Abstract
This article examines the genesis of Émile Cioran's first French book, “A Short History of Decay” (Précis de décomposition, 1949), a pivotal work that marked the author's transition from Romanian to French and became the foundation of his mature philosophical prose. Using archival documents from the Jacques Doucet Library and the National Library of France, the article analyzes drafts, paper, handwriting, and the numbering and revision system, allowing us to reconstruct the text's development. The study draws on methods of genetic criticism and codicology, revealing the “archaeology of writing” of Cioran.