My last post was about the philosophical pessimist Emil Cioran. Since then I have discovered another pessimistic writer, one that I had never heard of before—Albert Caraco. Caraco (1919 – 1971) was a French-Uruguayan philosopher, writer, essayist and poet of Turkish Jewish descent. He is known for his two major works, Post Mortem (1968) and posthumously published Breviary of Chaos (1982).
Caraco was born Istanbul on July 8, 1919 to a Jewish family. His family relocated to Vienna, Prague and later in Berlin, before settling in Paris. In 1939 Caraco and his family fled to South America due to Nazi threat and approaching World War II. In 1946, Caraco returned to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life devoting himself to writing. His mother’s death in 1969, widely documented in his work, Post Mortem, had a negative effect on his mental state and on September 7, 1971, following his father’s death, he committed suicide.
I have read none of Caraco’s works as they have not been translated to English. However, I have been able to piece together a bit of his philosophy by reading the very few English commentaries on his work that I have discovered, the best and most complete of which can be found here. Here are some of the highlights from that commentary:
His aim is .. to return the universe to it’s origin: chaos, absolute indifference, nothingness … He refused religions … any form of trascendence, any form of order, he was focused on catastrophes, death, corruption and decay and embraced a form of gnostic nihilism…
Caraco is an unusual and hard to classify thinker who wrote aphorisms and
dialogues. But his central idea (as best as I can glean) focuses on the
indifference of the universe towards all the human life and values. He wrote:
…I have been positioning myself in this nothing in which I feel
truly myself for years, and I occupy myself with the costant exercise of
unknotting my ego, the game doesn’t come without charm, and after all,
it does not cost a thing, maybe it costs only those smoky ideologies
which I am happy to lose …
There are of course many other themes in Caraco’s work: the centrality of chaos, the harm of being born, the rejection of progress and more. Unsurprisingly, he was an atheist who saw religion as disgraceful:
“if there is a God, chaos and death will appear among it’s
attributes, if God doesn’t exist, it changes nothing, for chaos and
death will be self-sufficient until the end of time.It doesn’t matter
what it’s praised, we are all victims of caducity and dissolution, it
doesn’t matter what is adored because this can’t help in avoiding
anything, the good and the bad have only one common destiny, a common
abyss which hosts saints and monsters, the idea of right and wrong is
nothing but a delirium, at which we cling for convenience.”
As I stated when writing about Cioran, I find it hard to analyze these pessimistic philosophers. On the one hand, I believe many people are overly optimistic about life and never really come to terms with how horrible life is and has been for billions of people. On the other hand, we cling tenaciously to life, perhaps from instinct but maybe also because we consider oblivion so undesirable. Moreover, its hard to escape the conclusion that one’s philosophy is mostly a reflection of one’s personality, in which case your philosophy describes subjective rather than objective reality. I’ll end with a relevant quote from William James
These, then, are my last words to you: Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact. The “scientific proof” that you are right may not be clear before the day of judgment … is reached. But the faithful fighters of this hour, or the beings that then and there will represent them, may then turn to the faint-hearted, who here decline to go on, with words like those with which Henry IV greeted the tardy Crillon after a great victory had been gained: “Hang yourself, brave Crillon! We fought at Arques, and you were not there.
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The above obviously leaves a lot unsaid about Caraco’s thought. For more see the previously mentioned commentary or watch the brief video below.
Interesting. I am, for the most part, an optimist… and the periods of depression and frustration, in a sense, make being an optimist worthwhile as I enjoy riding the waves for what you say is correct: we cling to life with tenacity. His idea that “the idea of right and wrong is nothing but a delirium, at which we cling for convenience… ” I could argue is not a delirium, but is what makes us human (granted he grew up in a hellish environment compared to the opposite I grew up in). Very much enjoyed the video, it made me see the many ways, surprisingly, that I do agree with his philosophy. Caraco’s ideas do shake… and that is what I love about it. I’d enjoy having a beer with him 🤠🍺!
He sounds like a metaphysical physicist, what with the chaos theme, etc. It seems sad and unfortunate to me that his life was short . But, then again, beneath his philosophy he also appears to have been a person with minimal regret. Play the hand you are dealt and get on with living. Wish I were there right now.
thanks for the comments Randall, always welcomed.
I came across this quote from Willian James.
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
It struck me as containing some salve to pessimism, some relief from the overwhelming starkness that the immenseness of the universe implies. The certainty of our being a blip in the Cosmos.
If pain is among the greatest of evils, perhaps we can, for brief periods, lessen the pain for someone living their “blip”. For that someone (human or elsewise) perhaps we do make a difference.
I really like this Lyle. I really do. This is about as close to living meaningful as we can get.
A complete translation of POST MORTEM is available online at https://terrorhousemag.com/tag/post-mortem/