Qohélet sous les aulnes ou de l’esthétisation de la vanité

In Cioran vanity qualifies as a device for deconstructing the epistemological and ontological status of the subject and the world, of his representation of himself and his own actions. The aim of this article is to analyse some aspects of this device in order to show its identity with the universal farce. At the same time, it aims to argue that the aestheticization of vanity, i.e. the empty play with simulacra, constitutes the existential pivot of Cioran’s proposition.