ПОЕТИКА БЕЗНАЂА У БАЛКАНСКОМ КУЛТУРНОМ КОНТЕКСТУ: ЛИРСКО-ФИЛОЗОФСКИ МОДЕЛ МИШЉЕЊА ЕМИЛА СИОРАНА
THE POETICS OF DESPAIR IN THE BALKAN CULTURAL CONTEXT: EMIL CIORAN’S LYRIC-PHILOSOPHICAL MODEL OF THOUGHT

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the oeuvre of Emil Cioran, the Romanian-French philosopher and writer, with particular emphasis on the category of despair as the central principle of his philosophical outlook and poetics. Drawing upon the biographical, historical, and cultural circumstances that shaped Cioran’s intellectual development, the study highlights the connection between existential crisis, feelings of alienation, and a pessimistic worldview, which are examined within the broader framework of the Balkan cultural context. The paper argues that Cioran’s philosophical pessimism should not be understood solely as a theoretical position but also as a distinctive lyric-philosophical and stylistic expression, articulated through fragmentary form, aphoristic discourse, and pronounced subjectivity. The analysis focuses on Cioran’s major works, including On the Heights of Despair (Pe culmile disperării), A Short History of Decay (Précis de décomposition), All Gall Is Divided (Syllogismes de l’amertume), and Tears and Saints (Lacrimi și sfinți), demonstrating that themes such as absurdity, suffering, death, meaninglessness, and decadence constitute the core elements of his thought. Particular attention is devoted to Cioran’s attitude toward religion, history, and the idea of progress, all of which he radically reexamines, as well as to his distancing from national identity and his adoption of the position of the “absolute exile,” interpreted here as a reflection of the specific historical and cultural conditions of the Balkan region. The paper demonstrates that philosophical reflection and literary expression are inseparably intertwined in Cioran’s work, and that the fragmentary nature of his writing is not merely a stylistic feature but a necessary reflection of a world deprived of coherent meaning. In conclusion, it is argued that Cioran’s poetics of despair, viewed within the Balkan cultural framework, constitutes an authentic model of thought that rejects systems, consolation, and ultimate truths, yet precisely through this rejection acquires the power of profound existential testimony to the crisis of modern humanity.

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