Tag: pessimism

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Schopenhauer monument, Frankfurt.

All parts here.

The Tragedy and Comedy of Life

We are continuing our discussion of Schopenhauer’s pessimistic philosophy of life. In the fourth book of The World as Will and Representation (“The World as Will: Second Aspect”), he writes, famously, “The life of every individual, viewed as a whole and in general, and when only its most significant features are emphasized, is really a tragedy; but gone through in detail it has the character of a comedy.”[1] (more…)

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All parts here.

Music as Direct Expression of Will

As noted last time, Schopenhauer provides us with a detailed discussion of the different art forms – much too detailed to cover here. But we may note a few of the highlights of his discussion. (more…)

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The following is reprinted from the Imperium Press Substack.

Neema Parvini
The Prophets of Doom
Societias, 2023

In polite circles today, you have two choices: You are either a progressive, or a complete reprobate. This is because “progress” is one of our foundational myths. You’re allowed to question the American Revolution or the Norman Conquest; you’re even allowed to question your own biology. (more…)

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In politics as in war, the best defense is a good offense. Conservatism has catastrophically failed to conserve anything because it is an inherently defensive ideology born out of a defensive — if not downright cowardly — mindset. It does not take a political genius to predict that those who want to just be left alone so they can grill in peace will lose to those who want to burn Western civilization to the ground. (more…)

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Like all journals of dissident ideas, Counter-Currents depends on the support of our readers. So far this year, we’ve raised $85,795.40, or 28.6% of our $300,000 goal. I want to thank everyone who has donated so far. (Please donate here!) And now, Alex Graham offers a few words on why victory is only possible if we truly believe in it — which means ignoring the doomsayers and doing what it takes to win.

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The concept of “positive thinking” is often bandied about in self-help circles. (more…)

The Battle of Rorke’s Drift, one of the unexpected victories of history.

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Author’s Note: In a recent livestream, a long-time listener, Sutton, asked me, “Greg, what would you do if you decided that the cause is hopeless?” I revisited this question in a later livestream. Hyacinth Bouquet transcribed my answers, and I combined them and cleaned them up a bit. I want to thank both Sutton and Hyacinth. (more…)

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Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria
The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
Penguin Classics, 2020

“How do you have the nerve to write some of the things you do?” I asked him. “Oh, it’s easy. I just pretend that I’m already dead.” — Michel Houellebecq[1]

Some years ago, in that white-collar internment camp known as graduate school, a classmate pointed out to me a book with a title that, being nominally philosophy students, amused us: Philosopher or Dog? by one Machado de Assis. (more…)

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Of peasant ancestry on his father’s side and boasting aristocratic (boyar) maternal roots, the Romanian poet, prose writer, and editorialist Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889) had not put his modest inherited wealth to waste. Educated in the German language since childhood, Eminescu was culturally — if not always geopolitically — an enthusiastic Germanophile. (more…)

Jean Raspail as photographed by Pascal Parrot in 1981.

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On June 13, 2020, the French explorer and novelist Jean Raspail died in Paris at the age of 94. Many were the nationalists, identitarians, and traditional Catholics who paid tribute at his passing. Former European MP and co-founder of the European identity movement Iliade, Jean-Yves Gallou, stated that Raspail was “the man who foretold the destructive impact of blame culture and anti-racism on our civilization back in 1973.”  (more…)

Alphonse de Neuville, The Huns at the Battle of Chalons

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Translated by Guillaume Durocher

Translator’s Note: The following extracts are drawn from Emil Cioran, Précis de décomposition (Paris: Gallimard, 1949). The title is editorial.

There are no beings more dangerous than those who have suffered for a belief: The great persecutors are recruited among the martyrs who were not beheaded. (13)

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Finnish hero Lauri Törni

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Our goal this year is to raise $100,000 in order to expand our efforts to build a metapolitical vanguard for White Nationalism. So far, we have received 80 donations totaling $18,115.92. We set our goals high because the task we have before us is formidable, but not impossible. And we need your help to succeed.

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I sometimes wonder who I am writing for. I know that a couple of my friends read every essay I post (though recently, one of them has been falling down on the job). (more…)

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Emil Cioran
De la France 
Paris: L’Herne, 2015

This is a strange, vile little book as only Emil Cioran knew how to produce. It was only recently published, in both the original Romanian and in French translation,[1] having been written in 1941 and left to languish for decades in some cardboard box in the Cioran archives. (more…)

Emil Cioran

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Translated by Guillaume Durocher

Translator’s Note:

The following is Alain Soral’s negative assessment of Emil Cioran, as contained in his “dictionary” of aphorisms. While this appraisal is not exactly fair, the text expresses some understandable frustration with the nihilist Cioran and gives one a sense of the oppressive atmosphere, for Right-wingers, of the postwar French literary scene. (more…)