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”.
