The Lucid Pessimist

<p> The works of Romanian-born French philosopher and essayist Emil Mihai Cioran (1911-1995) have been translated into Galician German Italian Japanese Korean Polish Portuguese Romanian Spanish Swedish and Turkish. Yet in the Anglo-American world Cioran is rarely taught at the postsecondary education level or mentioned in standard surveys of philosophy.</p><p> This work discusses the controversial and overlooked thought and life of Cioran arguing for his significance as a thought-provoking moral philosopher superb aphorist and witty and elegant stylist of the French language. It also comprehensively situates Cioran vis-a-vis the Western philosophical tradition; examines his deeply pessimistic views on fanaticism history utopia suicide the initial stain saints and philosophy; and analyzes his relationship to existentialism and Asian thought.</p>