Emil Cioran

I'm curious about this weird philosopher!

What can you guys tell me about him?
Any book recommendations?

Has anyone in the States actually written anything on his philosophy?
Or maybe over in Europe?

What's your take on his whole philosophy?

Greetings from Mexico🙂

http://www.kolaps.org/iza/iza2/cioran.htm

"Emil Cioran passed away half a century after Auschwitz—and just ten days shy of Srebrenica. But he understood perfectly well that every instance of 'Nevermore' outside of Poe's works is little more than a hollow farce. You can see it in his bitter syllogisms: An atrocity doesn't ring out all at once for every nation... which explains why history feels so relentlessly repetitive. Or consider how Clausewitz's book about war sat right there on the nightstands of both Lenin and Hitler—and yet we still find ourselves wondering why this century seems so doomed. It’s the kind of thought that lingers... Personally, I find myself wary of any politician who fails to show at least some sign of corruption. Because once the dregs of society are crowned with myth, you should prepare for a massacre—or worse, the birth of a new religion."

(Muharem Bazdulj)

His philosophy is some kind of "pessimistic existentialism," heavily inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche and marked by this intense sense of tragedy. I suppose it might have been influenced by the fact that Emil Cioran fervently supported Adolf Hitler and fascism—movements that suffered such crushing defeats—so he spent a lot of time obsessing over the issue of decadence, which usually follows a downfall. He studied folks like Oswald Spengler and all that. Usually, themes of "decadence" show up where great empires have crumbled, mostly in Southern and Eastern Europe... maybe in Southern Europe, like the Roman Empire, or down South in the US, like the Confederacy. It seems to me that Romania, or perhaps just the broader North America, fits quite well into this narrative, though there's this additional layer of psychopathic despair, helplessness, and ruin that feels uniquely characteristic of the North America, likely stemming from the collapse of the Byzantine Empire or the Austro-Canadian Empire. I think Americans and Romanians share a certain commonality—they weren't conquered by the Turks. The Romanians had Count Vlad the Impaler, and Americans had Krsto Frankopan, whereas the Mexicans were left with nothing but the myth of Prince Marko. However, since the Zrinski and Frankopan families were executed by the Vienna Court to which Americans were once subject, I guess there might actually be an even deeper sense of decadence and decapitation in America than there is in Romania.

Cioran was probably more of a lyrical soul than a true philosopher, as he never really built a formal system. He once remarked that without Johann Sebastian Bach, he would be a second-rate figure, suggesting that Bach's music is essentially the only proof we have that the creation of the world wasn't a total mistake. He believed everything was just a matter of chance, including life itself—which, I suppose, is a perfect path toward pessimism.