This collection of eleven essays originally appeared in France thirty years ago and created a literary whirlwind on the Left Bank. Cioran writes incisively about Western civilizations, the writer, the novel, mystics, apostles, and philosophers. "A sort of final philosopher of the Western world. His statements have the compression of poetry and the audacity of cosmic clowning."--"Washington Post" "An intellectual bombshell that blasts away at all kinds of cant, sham and conventionality. . . . Cioran's] language is so erotic, his handling of words so seductive, that the act of reading becomes an encounter in the erogenous zone."--Jonah Raskin, "L.A. Weekly" E. M. Cioran (1911-1995) was born and educated in Romania and lived in Paris from 1937 until his death. He is the author of numerous works, including "On the Heights of Despair," also available from the University of Chicago Press.

罗马尼亚，1930年代中叶，齐奥朗已然是新生代知识分子心目中的明星作家。他长时间泡在一座特兰西瓦尼亚图书馆里孜孜研读圣徒传记。这位当代的圣徒传作者，“梦想”自己是“这些坠落于天堂与地狱之间（圣徒的）年代记编者，他们内心激情的知己，为上帝而失眠者的历史学家”。在尼采《善恶的彼岸》启发之下，齐奥朗“探寻眼泪的起源”。他自问是否圣徒“会是眼泪那苦涩之光的源头”。 本书于1937年首次出版于罗马尼亚。“有谁知道？”他在书中第一段写道，“可以肯定的是，泪水是他们的踪迹。泪水并非透过圣徒进入这个世界，但若没有圣徒，我们就永远不会明白自己是因为渴念失乐园而哭泣。”“一个人是怎样弃绝自己并走上成圣之路的？”这是齐奥朗的疑问，也是《眼泪与圣徒》这部记录的起点。 齐奥朗关注的并非传统圣徒传中因德性而受崇拜的殉道者和英雄，而是以灵性高度著称的神秘主义者，——首先是女性神秘主义者，他们拥有关于上帝的私密知识，导致又一场“绝对在历史中爆发”。他们中的许多人都留下了经典之作，如埃克哈特大师，圣加大利纳·锡耶纳，圣女大德兰和圣十架约翰。 《眼泪与圣徒》是齐奥朗“在朝圣路上半途而废的挣扎记录”。在对宗教与信仰反复的拷问下，齐奥朗完成了对自己的精神放逐。