The Sardonic Philosophy of Emil Cioran: Enter Crying, Exit Grinning

Abstract Emil M. Cioran’s comic and ludic sagacity provides him with a unique title in the modern age—The Sardonic Philosopher. Here I suggest that perhaps his greatest work, The Trouble with Being Born, is not merely another of Cioran’s attempts at wrangling with the personal and profound pessimism that he expresses in many of his early works such as On the Heights of Despair and A Short History of Decay, which are lyrical but harsh, insightful but nihilistic. Rather, The Trouble with Being Born is found upon close examination to be something a bit different: a more nuanced prose poem of bitter realization, scornful humor and ludic wisdom. In this work, Cioran quickly indicts birth and appears to be traversing familiar ground—seething and stewing in the absurdity and pain of existence. But he finds a way out of those depths first by a profound scorn and scoff of existence and then to personal affirmation and finally to a smile or grin, if not an audible chuckle. This article explores the ludic wisdom and deep gaiety in Cioran's ideas and suggests that there is reason to see Cioran as closing ranks with the other “Laughing Philosophers”—Democritus, Epicurus, Montaigne, and Santayana—or, if not completely able to join that select group, he may at least be understood as one who entered existence crying, but exits with a grin on his face.