Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2006.

Ce mémoire interroge la place qu’occupent la poésie et les poètes dans l’œuvre du penseur Emil Cioran. En étudiant cette pensée qui puise à de nombreuses sources littéraires et poétiques, nous voyons comment le poète y incarne une figure de dépassement qui semble à certains moments pouvoir satisfaire un désir de transcender la condition humaine. Nous retraçons donc, de manière chronologique, une définition du poète comme personnage conceptuel, en analysant l'attitude de l'écrivain face à celui-ci et vis-à-vis de l'exercice poétique en général. La poésie lui apparait souvent comme une forme opposée à la philosophie, d’où il extrait un savoir proche de l’expérience et du vécu contre la rationalité et l’intellect. Nous soutenons que, malgré une position souvent équivoque puisqu'ambivalente à l’égard de la poésie et des poètes, ceux-ci jouent un rôle considérable dans l’évolution de sa pensée. Nous voulons aussi illustrer la tension qui existe entre ses aspirations et son intérêt pour la poésie, de même que ses propres velléités poétiques qui entre en conflit avec un idéal d’écriture qui se transforme au fil des livres. Nous voyons ainsi se dessiner une conception particulière de la poésie comme expérience, qui évolue dans ses écrits au gré des décennies. Enfin, nous étendons le questionnement en étudiant les relations, continues ou discontinues, qu’il entretient avec certaines figures spécifiques, qui selon nous exemplifient clairement la manière dont celles-ci imprègnent sa philosophie à différentes époques. De ce survol de l’œuvre transparait une quête existentielle et littéraire, caractéristique de l’approche philosophique de Cioran. / This study questions the place of poetry and poets in the works of thinker Emil Cioran. By interrogating his thought, which draws from many literary and poetic sources, it appears that the poet represents and embodies a transcendent figure that has the potential to satisfy, at times, a desire of transcending human condition. Therefore, we retrace in a chronological way, an evolving definition of the poet by analysing the attitude of the writer toward this conceptual character and the poetic practice in general. Poetry often appears to Cioran as an opposite form to philosophy, from which he extracts knowledge rooted in life and experience opposed to intellect and rationality. We argue that despite an often-ambiguous position toward poetry and poets, they have an important part to play in the evolution of his thought. We also want to illustrate the tensions that exist between his diverse aspirations and his interest in poetry, as well as his own poetic tendencies that are in conflict with an ideal of writing, which tends to change throughout his books. In doing so, we see in his writings a particular conception of poetry as experience that evolves over decades. Finally, we extend the question by looking at the specific relations, continued or discontinued, that links him with certain specific figures who clearly exemplify the way they influence his philosophy at different periods. From this reading of his works shows through an existential and literary quest, characteristic of Cioran’s philosophical approach.

Ce mémoire propose une lecture sociologique de l'oeuvre de maturité d'Émile Cioran (1911-1995), qui s'entame avec son Précis de décomposition (1949) et se termine avec Aveux et Anathèmes (1987). Mon objectif est double. D'une part, je veux brosser un portrait du monde dans lequel un écrivain comme Cioran a pu émerger, après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale et non avant, en Occident et non ailleurs. Et partant de l'idée que Cioran est façonné par un monde qui l'influence, j'en fais aussi un révélateur de notre culture. Comme cette culture est la nôtre, j'estime que nous pencher sur Cioran peut nous aider à réfléchir sur nous-mêmes. Afin de faire la sociologie de Cioran, j'ai construit un cadre théorique qui s'appuie sur les travaux de Marcel Gauchet, de même que sur des sociologues classiques dont Max Weber, Georg Simmel et Émile Durkheim. Avec ces auteurs, j'aborde des concepts tels que la crise des idéologies dans un monde désenchanté, la perte de liberté et la perte de sens, la crise de la culture... De même, je traite de la montée de l'individualisme, de la fragilisation du croire, du cynisme et du blasement contemporain et pour finir, du suicide. Ce cadre étant posé, je le reprends pour analyser le « personnage Cioran », que je prends soin de distinguer de l'homme réel. Puisant dans l'héritage de la sociologie compréhensive, j'aborde Cioran par une approche idéaltypique : je sélectionne des fragments de son oeuvre pour construire une figure-type de l'« homme désemparé ». Ma thèse est la suivante: en tant que sujet, Cioran est profondément déchiré, dans ce qu'il est et dans ce qu'il veut. La division de Cioran prend forme de tensions, d'oscillations, de conflits et de contradictions (que je dissèque dans ma partie analytique). Mon analyse de Cioran gravite autour des thèmes suivants: le temps, le savoir, l'action, les autres, la solitude, le suicide et le renoncement. J'en arrive à cette conclusion: Cioran ne sait pas ce qu'il veut car il ne sait pas qui il est. Et s'il ne sait pas qui il est, c'est parce qu'il vit dans une époque qui a fait de lui un « sujet ». ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Cioran, désenchantement, modernité, culture, cynisme, désespoir, suicide

Zugl.: Klagenfurt, Univ., Diss., 2003

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigo Inacio Ribeiro Sa Menezes.pdf: 1734759 bytes, checksum: c1bc6f6f7284e9e3da24350e1be4f158 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-08-08 / Focusing on the works of the Rumanian philosopher Emil Cioran (1911-1995), this study proposes an anthropological approach in order to elucidate the author s conception regarding human being. Cioran s writings portrait man as an essentially infirm being, idea from which this study takes off so as to explain what lies behind his anthropological pessimism. For such, it takes gathering, analyzing and interpreting the reflections offered by him on human being his origins, condition, history and destiny and that are spread out throughout his books. Besides, some of his critics will contribute to sustain the hypothesis: more than just a philosopher, Cioran is a religious thinker, whose pessimistic conception regarding human condition is rooted in gnostic soil. As it is intended to be demonstrated, his connections with gnosticism go way beyond a mere intellectual affinity, involving as well a kinship with the bogomils, a gnostic sect which settled in the Balkans during the Middle Ages and which is supposed to have had a significant role in shaping Rumania s cultural identity. Furthermore, it intends to argue that the crisis of insomnia endured by Cioran in his youth period has a cognitive and spiritual character allowing her to be interpreted as a gnosis. At last, this study commits itself with sustaining the following thesis: much more than his readings, it is rather his insomniac experience that turns out to be the decisive event responsible to shape his thought from then on, including his world and man view / Tendo a obra do filósofo romeno Emil Cioran (1911-1995) como objeto, este estudo parte de um recorte antropológico cuja intenção é lançar luzes sobre sua concepção de ser humano. Está presente em sua obra a idéia do homem como um animal enfermo por natureza, sendo este o ponto de partida que nos levará à compreensão do que está por trás do seu pessimismo antropológico. Para tanto, busca reunir, analisar e interpretar as diversas reflexões que o autor desenvolve sobre o ser humano sua origem, condição, história e destino e que se encontram espalhadas através de seus livros. Além de contar com alguns comentadores que contribuem para sustentar a hipótese: mais do que um filósofo, Cioran é um pensador de cunho religioso, cuja concepção pessimista acerca da condição humana encontra raízes no pensamento gnóstico. Conforme pretende demonstrar, sua relação com o gnosticismo vai muito além de uma mera afinidade intelectual, envolvendo também um parentesco com os bogomilos, seita gnóstica que habitou os Bálcãs durante a Idade Média e que teria influenciado profundamente a alma romena. Além disso, tentará mostrar que a crise de insônia sofrida por Cioran na juventude possui um sentido cognitivo e espiritual profundo que permite interpretá-la como uma gnose. Por fim, este estudo se compromete a sustentar a seguinte tese central: mais do que suas leituras, é a experiência de insônia o acontecimento decisivo que determinará todo seu pensamento posterior, sua visão de mundo assim como de ser humano

The subject of this thesis is an examination of the acquisition in language of a new country for three Eastern European writers exiled in France. For such writers, art and life become inseparable: just as the experience of geographical displacement liberates the writer so it liberates his language. This new language becomes a field of experimentation, in which the conflicts that precipitated exile are resolved. Departure necessitates the abandonment of the mother tongue: for Cioran, Romanian; for Kundera, Czech; for Makine, Russian. For each of these three writers, studied in this thesis, the adoption of French as the language of literary expression was a decisive act. Geographically and spiritually he and his text are redefined. Separated from familiar landmarks, each finds a new terrain in the language of the creative text, a place, a private space, in which to express the realities of his new self. On the one hand this new paradigm is the expression of a rejection of a past and a tradition; on the other hand it is essential in the process of coming to self-understanding. For Cioran, Kundera and Makine the French language provides a foil to their own ruptured, fragmented, traumatised or guilt-ridden native identities. In each case the adoption of French with its concomitant stereotypical qualities and values constitutes a dialectical process of coming to a clearer sense of self.