“Weird Mysticism: Philosophical Horror and the Logic of Negation in Thomas Ligotti, Georges Bataille, and E. M. Cioran” – Brad BAUMGARTNER

PhD dissertation, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2015 Abstract: This dissertation will identify and evaluate a new category of transatlantic, twentieth-century literature by showing the influence of speculative writing on three intersecting critical categories: modern literature, apophatic mysticism, and philosophical pessimism. Historically, the idea of negativity has been approached by focusing on its relegation to one or…

“Zen pessimism: on E. M. Cioran and non-being” – Brad BAUMGARTNER

CYCLOPS JOURNAL - A journal of Contemporary Theory, Theory of Religion and Experimental Theory, no. 1, London, 2016, p. 10-26. [Pdf] Shock to the System Unlike systematic philosophers, many of whom spend large swaths of time grappling with the fastidious organization of their ideas, pessimist philosopher E. M. Cioran gained a reputation for dismantling the so-called…