A PERIPHERAL IN SEARCH OF THE CENTER
The article examines the transformation of the identity of the Romanian-French essayist and philosopher Emil Cioran through the prism of the opposition “center – periphery”. The theoretical basis of the research is identity studies, ideological studies, anthropological hermeneutics and spatial theories. The authors proceed from the position that the concepts of center and periphery are not only geographical or cultural-political categories, but also important psychological and worldview constructs that determine the intellectual biography of an individual.Based on the analysis of Emil Cioran’s works, his diaries, essays and scientific literature, the complex evolution of his self-perception is traced: from admiration for imperial models of culture and criticism of Romania’s peripheral status to rethinking the value of peripheral experience and critical attitude towards the cultural center. It is shown that in different periods of his work Cioran fluctuated between the desire to integrate into the central cultural space and attempts to preserve his own marginal identity.Special attention is paid to the analysis of the relationship between space, cultural belonging and the thinker’s literary style. The authors prove that Cioran internalized the concepts of the center and the periphery, turning them into tools for understanding his own existence. The article examines his worldview fluctuations between the “lyrical ontology of barbarism” and the “geometric ontology of cultural sophistication”, between the romantic fascination with the periphery and the desire for universalism. A significant place is devoted to the analysis of his attitude towards national identity, modernity, imperial cultural models, religion, nihilism and the concept of “non-human”.The study demonstrates that Cioran cannot be unambiguously attributed to either the center or the periphery. His intellectual biography appears as a continuous process of finding a balance between these two poles, and the fluidity of identity becomes an important condition for his creative freedom. The authors conclude that it was the tension between peripherality and centrality that determined the paradoxical nature of Cioran's thinking, his tendency towards intellectual antitheses, and shaped his unique writing style.