All Gall is Divided

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All Gall is Divided
All Gall is Divided.jpg
AuthorEmil Cioran
TranslatorRichard Howard
LanguageFrench
GenrePhilosophy
Published1952 (French)
1999 (English)
PublisherArcade Publishing
Pages151

All Gall is Divided (French: Syllogismes de l'amertume) is a French 1952 philosophy book by Emil Cioran, translated into English in 1999 by Richard Howard. The book is presented as a series of aphorisms and short essays on subjects such as religion, suicide, and literature.

Content[]

Main article: Emil Cioran § Major themes and style

All Gall is Divided was the second book by the Romanian-born Cioran to be written in French, after 1949's A Short History of Decay, and the first to contain aphorisms.[1] Cioran claimed he wrote in aphorisms because "explaining bores me terribly", and that there was no order to All Gall is Divided as it was being written, only organising it into thematic chapters afterwards, "because it is the same vision of things".[1]

Reception[]

Publishers Weekly called All Gall is Divided Cioran's "existential equivalent" to The Devil's Dictionary, and described its writing as "aridly clever" and "laconic and intense".[2] Patrick Madden noted that the aphorisms of All Gall is Divided "drip with cynicism and despair", and described Cioran as an "irascible rascal, mischievously spreading his seeds of discord and discontent, but he does so so beautifully that a reader welcomes the fragmentary soliloquy between the pages, learns from it, changes from it."[3]

In a 1999 New York Times review, Albert Mobilio praised the translation of All Gall is Divided, comparing Cioran's idiosyncrasy to that of Cosmo Kramer. Mobilio stated that the "faux naif quality invests the act of dying with a slippery comedy that in true double-take fashion actually heightens the seriousness."[4] In 2020, Mobilio published Same Faces, a collection of poems which was inspired by All Gall is Divided.[5]

All Gall is Divided sold 2,000 copies within the first twenty years of its release, which Cioran called "a big success", and said it was his most read book in France.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "E. M. Cioran". Itineraries of a Hummingbird. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
  2. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: All Gall Is Divided". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2021-06-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Madden, Patrick (2005). "Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction". Michigan State University Press. 7: 119 – via JSTOR.
  4. ^ Mobilio, Albert. "All Gall Is Divided". New York Times. Retrieved 2021-06-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Leuzzi, Tony (2021-02-02). "ALBERT MOBILIO with Tony Leuzzi". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
Retrieved from ""