I can't find anything about this guy outside of this article. I'm hoping there's a misspelling or something because I'm going to be really bummed if he didn't exist.
I actually emailed the guy who wrote this article because I too tried desperately to find anything on our lovely Clung. He sounds like a really funny pessimist in the vein of Cioran. I'll reply here if the author ever replies with a source.
I couldn't find any candidate Clungs, so I started looking at as many 16th century Laurentiuses I could find. So far mostly Lutheran Swedes rather than renegade Calvinists. There is a Laurentius who's all over The Anatomy of Melancholy, but as a medical writer and not as a sickness-of-the-soul type of fellow.
Edit - If he did exist he really should have been mentioned in Cioran or as an obsession for one of Bernhard's narrators or a Lars Iyer character.
Edit edit - Damn it all:
"Edit: I tried searching for “Laurentius Clung” and I only found the article this was lifted from, so in my weakness and desire for this insane theological position to be real I just assumed the author had access to rare primary sources. I have since been informed that Clung is just a hilarious invention." https://trilobiter.tumblr.com/post/751561497005654016/edit-i-tried-searching-for-laurentius-clung-and
I just read a biography of Thomas Müntzer (a much more radical rival of Luther's who was killed leading a peasant uprising), and honestly all of these quotes are just how these guys wrote at the time
This is referring to 16th century monk Laurentius Clung, former disciple of Calvin. Article here. Scroll down to imperfection.
Edit: this is not a real person and is in fact a fantastic bit
I can't find anything about this guy outside of this article. I'm hoping there's a misspelling or something because I'm going to be really bummed if he didn't exist.
what if the greatest trick the big clungus ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist?
Even greater; what if the greatest trick he ever pulled was convincing the world he did exist?
I actually emailed the guy who wrote this article because I too tried desperately to find anything on our lovely Clung. He sounds like a really funny pessimist in the vein of Cioran. I'll reply here if the author ever replies with a source.
I couldn't find any candidate Clungs, so I started looking at as many 16th century Laurentiuses I could find. So far mostly Lutheran Swedes rather than renegade Calvinists. There is a Laurentius who's all over The Anatomy of Melancholy, but as a medical writer and not as a sickness-of-the-soul type of fellow.
Edit - If he did exist he really should have been mentioned in Cioran or as an obsession for one of Bernhard's narrators or a Lars Iyer character.
Edit edit - Damn it all:
"Edit: I tried searching for “Laurentius Clung” and I only found the article this was lifted from, so in my weakness and desire for this insane theological position to be real I just assumed the author had access to rare primary sources. I have since been informed that Clung is just a hilarious invention." https://trilobiter.tumblr.com/post/751561497005654016/edit-i-tried-searching-for-laurentius-clung-and
Lmao incredible bit
If Laurentius Clung does not exist, it is necessary to create him.
"Something can be true without being real"
"unfortunately i made him up" is his emailed reply, so yeah this checks out
Thanks for the update. Tremendously unfortunate. I move that Sam Kriss start exclusively writing under his new heteronym.
Yeah I told him as much, I still expect to hear more from our beloved Clung.
I just read a biography of Thomas Müntzer (a much more radical rival of Luther's who was killed leading a peasant uprising), and honestly all of these quotes are just how these guys wrote at the time
That's exactly why I immediately believed it lmao
Laurentius Clung is the type of name I make up on the spot in dnd