How long does it take to read Tears and Saints?
Tears and Saints by E. M. Cioran takes about 2 hours 35 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 2 hours 35 minutes
An evening's read
First published 1986. 141 pages, about 38,775 words.
6 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 4 hours 19 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 2 hours 35 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 1 hour 37 minutes |
The page count is the median across 7 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Tears and Saints focuses not on martyrs or heroes but on the mystics - primarily female - famous for their keening spirituality and intimate knowledge of God. Their Christianity was anti-theological, anti-institutional, and based on intuition and sentiment. Many, such as Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Saint John of the Cross, have produced classic works of mystical literature; but Cioran celebrates many more minor and unusual figures as well. Following Nietzsche, Cioran brings to light the political element hidden in saints' lives. In his hands, their charitable deeds are much less interesting than their thirst for pain and their equally powerful capacity to endure it. What Cioran calls the "voluptuousness of suffering" is epitomized by Margaret Mary Alacoque's classic statement: "None of my sufferings has been equal to that of not having suffered enough." Behind this suffering and their uncanny ability to renounce everything through ascetic practices, Cioran detects a fanatical will to power.
Subjects: God, Religion, Christian saints, Suffering, Miscellanea, Saints
