Difference between revisions of "Mircea Eliade" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
(Added categories)
 
(Added Images OK Tag)
Line 1: Line 1:
 +
{{Images OK}}
 +
'''Mircea Eliade''' ({{OldStyleDate|March 13|1907|February 28}} – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian, philosopher, theorist of religion, literary critic, and novelist notably in the fantasy and autobiographical genre He had fluent command of five languages (Romanian, French]]German, Italian, English), and less command of three others (Hebrew, Persian and Sanskrit).
 +
 +
In 1928, at the University of Bucharest, he met Emil Cioran and Eugène Ionesco, and the three became, with short interruptions, lifelong friends. Since the 1970s he has been criticized for his pre-1940s sympathies for the Iron Guard, a far right, [[Fascism|fascist]]-inspired political organization.
 +
 +
==Biography==
 +
 +
===Early life===
 +
Born in [[Bucharest]], Eliade attended the Spiru Haret National College in the same class as Arşavir Acterian, Haig Acterian, and Petre Viforeanu (and several years the senior of Nicolae Steinhardt, who was to satirize his novels under the pen name ''Antisthius'', and who became a close friend of Eliade's);<ref>Steinhardt, in Handoca</ref> while in highschool, he wrote his debut work, the autobiographical ''Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent'' (influenced by the literature of [[Giovanni Papini]]). He graduated from the local university's Faculty of Philosophy in 1928, earning his diploma with a study on ''Italian Philosophy from [[Marsilio Ficino]] to [[Giordano Bruno]]'', and subsequently traveled to [[Italy]], where he met Papini and collaborated with the scholar [[Giuseppe Tucci]].
 +
 +
His scholarly works began after a long period of study in [[British India|India]] at the [[University of Calcutta]]. Finding that the [[Maharaja]] of [[Kassimbazar]] sponsored [[Europe]]an scholars to study in India, Eliade applied and was granted an allowance for four years. In 1928 he sailed for [[Calcutta]] to study Sanskrit and philosophy under [[Surendranath Dasgupta]], a [[University of Cambridge]]-educated [[Bengal]]i professor at the University of Calcutta and author of a five volume ''History of Indian Philosophy''. While living with Dasgupta, Eliade fell in love with his daughter, Maitreyi Devi, later writing a barely-disguised autobiographical novel (''Bengal Nights'') in which he claimed that he carried on a physical relationship with her. When she became aware of this account, she contested his account in her own novel ''Nya Hanyate'' (''It Does Not Die'', written in [[Bengali language|Bengali]]).
 +
 +
At the time, he became interested in the actions of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], whom he met personally,<ref>Ross</ref> and the ''[[Satyagraha]]'' as a phenomenon; later, Eliade adapted Gandhist ideas in his discourse on spirituality and Romania.<ref>Ross</ref>
 +
 +
===Early 1930s===
 +
As one of the figures in the ''[[Criterion (literary society)|Criterion]]'' [[literary society]] (1933-1934), his initial encounter with the traditional far right was polemical: the group's conferences were stormed by members of [[A. C. Cuza]]'s [[National-Christian Defense League]], who objected to what they viewed as [[pacifism]] and addressed [[Anti-semitism|anti-Semitic]] insults to several speakers, including [[Mihail Sebastian]];<ref>Ornea, p.150-151, 153</ref> in 1933, he was among the signers of a manifesto opposing [[Nazi Germany]]'s state-enforced [[racism]].<ref>Ornea, p.174-175</ref> Eliade's views at the time focused on innovation — in the summer of 1933, he replied to an anti-[[Modernism|modernist]] critique written by [[George Călinescu]]:
 +
<blockquote><div style="line-height:140%">"All I wish for is a deep change, a complete transformation. But, for God's sake, in any direction other than [[spirituality]]".<ref>Eliade, 1933, in Ornea, p.167</ref></div></blockquote>
 +
 +
However, while a professor at the University of Bucharest (1933-1939), Eliade became active in [[Nationalism|nationalist]] politics, eventually enrolling in the ''Totul pentru Ţară'' ("Everything for the Fatherland" Party), the political expression of the [[Iron Guard]], and contributing to its 1937 electoral campaign in [[Prahova County]] — as indicated by his inclusion on a list of party members with [[Counties of Romania|county]]-level responsibilities (published in ''[[Buna Vestire]]'').<ref>Ornea, p.207</ref> He also contributed to the movement's press, writing in such papers as ''Sfarmă Piatră'' and ''Buna Vestire''. He and friends Cioran and [[Constantin Noica]] were by then under the influence of ''[[Trăirism]]'', a school of thought that was formed around the ideals expressed by Romanian philosopher [[Nae Ionescu]]. A form of [[existentialism]], ''Trăirism'' was also the synthesis of traditional and newer [[right-wing]] beliefs.<ref>Ornea, Chapter IV</ref>
 +
 +
Eliade's articles before and after his adherence to the principles of the Iron Guard (or, as it was usually known at the time, the ''Legionary Movement''), beginning with his famous ''Itinerar spiritual'' ("Spiritual itinerary", serialized in ''[[Cuvântul]]'' in 1927) center on several political ideals advocated by the far right. They displayed his rejection of [[Liberalism and radicalism in Romania|liberalism]] and the [[Modernization|modernizing]] goals of the [[1848 Wallachian revolution]] (perceived as "an abstract apology of Mankind"<ref>Eliade, 1933, in Ornea, p.32</ref> and "ape-like imitation of [Western] Europe"),<ref>Eliade, 1936, in Ornea, p.32</ref> as well as for [[democracy]] itself (accusing it of "managing to crush all attempts at national renaissance",<ref>Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.53</ref> and later praising [[Benito Mussolini]]'s [[Italian fascism|Fascist Italy]] on the grounds that, according to Eliade, "[in Italy,] he who thinks for himself is promoted to the highest office in the shortest of times").<ref>Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.53</ref> He approved of an [[Ethnic nationalism|ethnic nationalist]] state centered on the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]] (in 1927, despite his still-vivid interest in [[Theosophy]], he recommended young [[intellectual]]s "the return to the Church"),<ref>Eliade, 1927, in Ornea, p.147</ref> which he opposed to, among others, the [[Secularism|secular]] nationalism of [[Constantin Rădulescu-Motru]];<ref>Eliade, 1935, in Ornea, p.128</ref> referring to this particular ideal as "Romanianism", Eliade was, in 1934, still viewing it as "neither fascism, nor [[chauvinism]]".<ref>Eliade, 1934, in Ornea, p.136</ref> A major dissatifaction with the state focused on the [[unemployment]] of intellectuals, whose careers in state-financed institutions had been rendered uncertain by the [[Great Depression]].<ref>Eliade, 1933, in Ornea, p.178, 186</ref>
 +
 +
===Internment and diplomatic service===
 +
By 1937, he gave his intellectual support to the Iron Guard, in which he saw "a [[Christianity|Christian]] revolution aimed at creating a new Romania",<ref>Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.203</ref> and a group able "to reconcile Romania with God".<ref>Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.203</ref>
 +
 +
The stance taken by Eliade resulted in his arrest on [[July 14]], [[1938]] after a crackdown on the Iron Guard authorized by [[King of Romania|King]] [[Carol II of Romania|Carol II]]. Eliade was kept for three weeks in a permanently lighted cell at the [[Siguranţa Statului]] Headquarters, in an attempt to have him sign a "declaration of dissociation" with the Iron Guard, but he refused to do so.<ref>Ornea, p.209</ref> In the first week of August he was transferred to a makeshift camp at [[Miercurea-Ciuc]]. When Eliade began coughing blood in October 1938, he was taken to a clinic in [[Moroeni]], because the death of a popular young writer in custody was a potential scandal. Eliade was simply released on November 12 and, with the help of [[Alexandru Rosetti]], became the cultural attaché to the [[United Kingdom]], a posting cut short when Romanian-British foreign relations were broken.
 +
 +
After leaving London he retained the same position in [[Portugal]], where he was kept on as diplomat by the [[National Legionary State]] (the Iron Guard government) and, ultimately, by [[Ion Antonescu]]'s regime. In 1942, Eliade authored a volume in praise of the ''[[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]]'', established in Portugal by [[António de Oliveira Salazar]], alleging that "The Salazarian state, a [[Christianity|Christian]] and [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] one, is first and foremost based on love".<ref>Eliade, ''Salazar'', in "[http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=99962 Eliade despre Salazar]", ''[[Evenimentul Zilei]]'', October 13, 2002''</ref> On July 7 of the same year, he was received by Salazar himself, who asked assigned Eliade the task of warning Antonescu to withdraw the [[Romanian Army]] from the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] ("[In his place], I would not be grinding it in [[Russia]]").<ref>Eliade, in Handoca</ref> Eliade also claimed that such contacts with the leader of a neutral country had made him the target for [[Gestapo]] surveillance, but that he had managed to communicate Salazar's advice to [[Mihai Antonescu]], Romania's [[List of Romanian Foreign Ministers|Foreign Minister]].<ref>Eliade, in Handoca; Ross</ref>
 +
 +
===Exile===
 +
At signs that the [[Communist Romania|Romanian communist regime]] was about to take hold, Eliade opted not to return to the country. He lived in [[France]], where, recommended by [[Georges Dumézil]], he taught at the [[École Pratique des Hautes Études]] in [[Paris]]; it was estimated that, at the time, it was not uncommon for him to work 15 hours a day.<ref>Ribas</ref>
 +
 +
In 1957, he moved to the [[United States]]. He was invited by [[Joachim Wach]] to give a series of lectures at Wach's home institution, the [[University of Chicago]], and settled in [[Chicago]]. Upon Wach's untimely death before the lectures were delivered, Eliade was appointed as his replacement, becoming the Sewell Avery Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions. He also worked as editor-in-chief of [[Macmillan Publishers]]' ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', collaborated with [[Carl Jung]] and the [[Eranos]] circle, and wrote for the ''Antaios'' magazine (edited by [[Ernst Jünger]]).<ref>Ribas</ref>
 +
 +
Initially attacked with virulence by the [[Romanian Communist Party]] press, chiefly by ''[[România Liberă]]'' (which described him as "the Iron Guard's ideologue, [[Enemy of the people|enemy of the working class]], apologist of Salzar's dictatorship"),<ref>''România Liberă'', ''passim'' September-October 1944, in Frunză</ref> he was slowly [[Rehabilitation (Soviet)|rehabilitated]] beginning in the early 1960s (under the rule of [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]]).<ref>Frunză, p.448-449</ref>
 +
 +
In the 1970s, Eliade was approached by the [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]] regime in several ways, in order to have him return, which Eliade never did. The move was prompted by the officially-sanctioned nationalism and Romania's claim to independence from the [[Eastern Bloc]], as both phenomenons came to see Eliade's prestige as an asset. An unprecedented event occurred with the interview that was granted by Mircea Eliade to poet [[Adrian Păunescu]], during the latter's 1970 visit to Chicago; Eliade complimented both Păunescu's activism and his support for official tenets, expressing a belief that
 +
<blockquote><div style="line-height:140%">"the youth of Eastern Europe is clearly superior to that of [[Western Europe]]. [...] I am convinced that, within ten years, the young revolutionary generation shan't be behaving as does today the noisy minority of [[New Left|Western contesters]]. [...] Eastern youth have seen the abolition of traditonal institutions, have accepted it [...] and are not yet content with the enforced structures, but rather seek to improve them".<ref>Eliade, 1970, in Cernat, p.346</ref></div></blockquote>
 +
 +
In [[1990]], Eliade was elected post-mortem to the [[Romanian Academy]].
 +
 +
==The scholar==
 +
{{ Expandsection }}
 +
In his work on the history of religion, Eliade is most highly regarded for his writings on [[Shamanism]], [[Yoga]] and [[Cosmology|cosmological myths]]. He has had a decisive influence on many scholars, for instance [[Ioan Petru Culianu]]. In Romania, Eliade's legacy in the field of history of religions is mirrored by the journal [http://www.rahr.ro/ ''Archaeus''] (founded [[1997]]).
 +
 +
An endowed chair in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School was named after Eliade in recognition of his wide contribution to the research on this subject. The current (and first incumbent) holder of this chair is Wendy Doniger, Eliade's colleague from 1978 until his death in 1986.
 +
 +
Eliade's thinking was in part influenced by [[Rudolf Otto]], [[Phenomenology of religion#van der Leeuw|Gerardus van der Leeuw]], Nae Ionescu and the writings of the [[Traditionalist School]].  For instance, Eliade's ''The Sacred and the Profane'' partially builds on Otto's ''The Idea of the Holy'' to show how religion emerges from the experience of the sacred, and myths of time and nature. Although his scholarly work was never subordinated to his early political beliefs, the school of thought he is associated with, has thematic links to Fascism.{{fact}} Eliade was preoccupied with the [[Zalmoxis]]' cult and its supposed [[monotheism]].{{fact}}
 +
 +
His scholarly work includes a well known study of shamanism, ''Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy'', and an analysis of yoga as a concrete search for freedom from human limitations, ''Yoga, Immortality and Freedom''. In ''Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return'' Eliade provides an analysis of time as heterogeneous for the religious and homogeneous for the non-religious and a conception of the 'terror of history' and the ability to 'reactualize' religious time.
 +
 +
Eliade's work is viewed as more theological than historical.{{fact}} He is considered to have discerned some valid patterns in mythological and religious traditions, but his presentation of them was often historically cavalier and heavily loaded with his own brand of Romantic spirituality that lauded religions of the "cosmic type" over traditions of history and modernity. Some have traced these views about the "terror of history" and the dangers of modernity to his experiences as a Romanian in [[World War II]].{{fact}}
 +
 +
==Controversy: anti-Semitism and links with the Iron Guard==
 +
The early years in Eliade's public career show him to have been highly tolerant of the [[Jew]]s in general, and of the [[History of the Jews in Romania|Jewish minority in Romania]] in particular. His condemnation of [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] policies was accompanied by his caution and moderation in regard to [[Nae Ionescu]]'s various anti-Jewish attacks.<ref>Ornea, p.408-409, 412</ref>
 +
 +
[[Mihail Sebastian]] claimed in his ''Journal'' that Eliade's actions during the 1930s show him to be an anti-Semite. According to Sebastian, who was [[Jew]]ish, Eliade had shown himself friendly to him until the start of his political commitments, after which he severed all ties.<ref>Sebastian, ''passim''</ref> Before their friendship came apart, however, Sebastian claimed that he took notes on their conversations (which he later published) during which Eliade was supposed to have expressed anti-Semitic views. According to Sebastian, Eliade said in 1939:
 +
 +
<!-- here and below, we are using style="line-height:140%" because with so many embedded internal links the normal blockquote formatting is too compact —>
 +
<blockquote><div style="line-height:140%">"The [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Poles' resistance]] in [[Warsaw]] is a Jewish resistance. Only yids are capable of the blackmail of putting women and children in the front line, to take advantage of the [[Nazi Germany|Germans]]' sense of scruple. The Germans have no interest in the destruction of Romania. Only a pro-German government can save us.... What is [[Bukovina#Preceding events and Second World War|happening on the frontier with Bukovina]] is a scandal, because new waves of Jews are flooding into the country. Rather than a Romania again invaded by kikes, it would be better to have a German protectorate."<ref>Sebastian, p. 238</ref></div></blockquote>
 +
 +
The content of Sebastian's testimony is disputable given the uncharacteristic radicalism of Eliade's supposed views, and the clear but unprecedented esteem reserved for German methods. Beyond his involvement with a movement known for its anti-Semitism, Eliade did not usually comment on Jewish issues. However, a text he contributed to ''[[Vremea]]'' in 1936 showed that he supported at least some Iron Guard accusations against the Jewish community:
 +
 +
<blockquote><div style="line-height:140%">"Ever since the war [that is, [[World War I]]], Jews have invaded villages in [[Maramureş historical region|Maramureş]] and [[Bukovina]], and have become absolute majority in every town in [[Bessarabia]].<ref>It was popular prejudice in the late 1930s to claim that [[History of the Jews in Ukraine|Ukrainian Jews]] in the [[Soviet Union]] had obtained Romanian citizenship illegally after passing the border into [[Maramureş historical region|Maramureş]] and Bukovina. In 1938, this accusation served as an excuse for the [[Octavian Goga]]-[[A. C. Cuza]] government to suspend and review all Jewish citizenship guaranteed after 1923, rendering it very difficult to regain (Ornea, p.391). Eliade's mention of Bessarabia probably refers to an earlier period, being his interpretation of a pre-[[Greater Romania]] process.</ref> [...] It would be absurd to expect Jews to resign themselves in order to become a minority with certain rights and very many duties — after they have tasted the honey of power and conquered as many command positions as they have. Jews are currently fighting with all forces to maintain their positions, expecting a future offensive — and, as far as I am concerned, I understand their fight and admire their vitality, tenacity, genius."<ref>Eliade, 1936, in Ornea, p.412-413</ref></div></blockquote>
 +
 +
One year later, a text, accompanied by his picture, was featured as answer to an inquiry by the Iron Guard's ''[[Buna Vestire]]'' about the reasons he had for supporting the movement. A short section of it summarizes an anti-Jewish attitude:
 +
 +
<blockquote><div style="line-height:140%">"Can the Romanian nation end its life in the saddest state of decay ever to be known in history, undermined by misery and [[syphilis]], invaded by Jews and torn apart by foreigners, demoralized, betrayed, sold off for some hundreds of millions [[Romanian leu|lei]]?"<ref>Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.413</ref></div></blockquote>
 +
 +
According to the literary critic [[Z. Ornea]], in the 1980s Eliade denied authorship of the text. He explained the use of his signature, his picture, and the picture's caption, as having been applied by the magazine's editor, [[Mihail Polihroniade]], to a piece the latter had written after having failed to obtain Eliade's contribution; he also claimed that, given his respect for Polihroniade, he had not wished to publicize the occurence at any thitherto moment.<ref>Ornea, p.206; Ornea is sceptical of these explanations, given both the long period of time spent before Eliade gave them, and especially the fact that the article itself, despite the haste in which it ought to have been written, has remarkably detailed references to many articles written by Eliade in various papers over a period of time.</ref>
 +
 +
The depolitisation of Eliade after the start of his diplomatic career was mistrusted by [[Eugène Ionesco]], who indicated that, upon the close of [[World War II]], Eliade's personal beliefs as expressed to his friends amounted to "all is over now that «Communism has won»" (this forms part of Ionesco's harsh and succinct review of the careers of Legionary-inspired intellectuals, many of them his friends and former friends, in a letter he sent to [[Tudor Vianu]]).<ref>Ionesco, 1945, in Ornea, p.184</ref> In August 1954, when [[Horia Sima]], who led the Iron Guard during its exile, was rejected by a faction inside the movement, his name was included on a list of persons who supported the latter (although this may have happened without Eliade's consent).<ref>Ornea, p.210</ref>
 +
 +
Further criticism of his political involvement with anti-Semitism and fascism came from Adriana Berger, Leon Volovici, Daniel Dubuisson and others, who have attempted to trace Eliade's anti-Semitism throughout his work and through his associations with contemporary anti-Semites, such as the Italian Fascist [[occultist]] [[Julius Evola]]. Volovici, for example, is critical of Eliade not only because of his support for the Iron Guard, but also for spreading anti-Semitism and [[anti-Masonry]] in 1930s Romania.<ref>Volovici, p.104–105, 110–111, 120–126, 134</ref>
 +
 +
Other scholars, like Bryan S. Rennie, have claimed that there is, to date, no evidence of Eliade's membership, active services rendered, or of any real involvement with any fascist or totalitarian movements or membership organizations, nor that there is any evidence of his continued support for nationalist ideals after their inherently violent nature was revealed. They further assert that there is no imprint of overt political beliefs in Eliade's scholarship, and also claim that Eliade's critics are following political agendas.<ref>Rennie p.149—177; Ross</ref>
 +
 +
==Works==
 +
===Selected scholarly works===
 +
* ''The Comparative History of Yoga Techniques'', 1933
 +
* ''Oceanografie'', 1934
 +
* ''Alchimia Asiaticam'', 1934
 +
* ''Yoga: Essai sur les origines de la mystique indienne'', 1936
 +
* ''Cosmologie şi alchimie babiloniană'', 1937
 +
* ''Fragmentarium'', 1939
 +
* ''Comentarii la legenda Meşterului Manole'', 1943
 +
* ''Techniques du Yoga'', 1948
 +
* ''Traitè d'histoire des religions'', 1949 - ''Patterns in Comparative Religion''
 +
* ''Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l'extase'', 1951 - ''Shamanism: Archaic Technoque of Ecstacy''
 +
* ''Images et Symboles'', 1952 - ''Images and Symbols''
 +
* ''Forgerons et alchimistes'', 1956 - ''The Forge and the Crucible''
 +
* ''Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return'', translated: W.R. Trask. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, [[1954]]. Originally published as ''Le Mythe de l'eternel retour: archétypes et répetition'', [[1949]].
 +
* ''Yoga, Immortality and Freedom'', translated: W.R. Trask. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, [[1958]]. First published in French as ''Yoga: Essai sur l'origine de la mystique Indienne'' in [[1933]].
 +
* ''Rites and Symbols of Initiation (Birth and Rebirth)'', translated: W. Trask, London: Harvill Press, [[1958]]. The publication of Eliade's 1956 Haskell Lectures at the University of Chicago, ''Patterns of Initiation''.
 +
* ''Patterns in Comparative Religion'', translated: R. Sheed, London: Sheed and Ward, [[1958]].
 +
* ''The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion'', translated from French: W.R. Trask, Harvest/HBJ Publishers, [[1957]] ISBN 0-15-679201-X.
 +
* ''Myths, Dreams and Mysteries: the Encounter between Contemporary Faiths and Archaic Realities'', translated: P. Mairet, London: Harvill Press, [[1959]].
 +
* ''Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism'', translated: P. Mairet, London: Harvill Press, [[1961]].
 +
* ''Patanjali et Yoga'', 1962 - ''Patanjali and Yoga''
 +
* ''Myth and Reality'', translated: W. Trask, New York: Harper and Row, [[1963]].
 +
* ''Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy'', translated: W.R. Trask. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, [[1964]]. Originally published ''Le Chamanisme'', [[1951]].
 +
* ''The Two and the One'', translated: J.M. Cohen, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, [[1965]].
 +
* ''The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion'', London: University of Chicago Press, [[1969]].
 +
* ''Zalmoxis, The Vanishing God'', The University of Chicago Press, [[1972]].
 +
* ''Australian Religions'', 1973
 +
* ''Occultism, Witchcraft and Cultural Fashions'', 1976
 +
* ''A History of Religious Ideas'', vol. I, ''From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries'', translated: W. Trask, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, [[1978]].
 +
* ''A History of Religious Ideas'', vol. II, ''From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity'', translated: W. Trask, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, [[1982]].
 +
* ''The History of Religious Ideas'', vol. III, ''From Muhammad to the Age of the Reforms'', translated: A. Hiltebeitel and D. Apostolos-Cappadona, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, [[1985]].
 +
* ''Symbolism, the Sacred, and the Arts'', edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, The Crossroad Publishing Company, N.Y., [[1986]]. ISBN 0-8245-0723-1
 +
* ''Encyclopedia of Religion'' (editor-in-chief), New York: Macmillan, [[1987]].
 +
* ''[http://alexm.here.ru/mirrors/www.enteract.com/jwalz/Eliade/ From Primitives to Zen (full text)]''.
 +
* ''The Harpercollins Concise Guide to World Religions'', 2000 (with Ioan P. Culianu, Hillary S. Wiesner)
 +
 +
===Fiction===
 +
* 1921, ''Cum am găsit piatra filosofală''. (''How I found the Philosophers’ Stone''). Eliade’s first story to be published when he was fourteen years old. RR p.40.
 +
* 1924, ''Romanul adolescenului miop''. (''Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent''). Published in serial form in the periodicals ''[[Cuvântul]]'', ''[[Viaţa Literară]]'', and ''Universul Literar''. Published in French: ''Le roman de l'adolescent myope''. Paris: Acte Sud, 1992. RR pp.48-73.
 +
* 1927, ''Itinerar spiritual''. (''Spiritual Itinerary'') ''Cuvântul'' (Sept.- Nov. 1927). RR pp.245-270.
 +
* 1928, ''Gaudeamus''. A sequel to ''Romanul adolescentului miop'', first published in 1986 in ''Revista de istorie si teorie literară''. RR pp.56, 198-201.
 +
* 1928, ''Apologia virilităţii'' (''Apology for Virility'') In ''[[Gândirea]]'', 8 (1928):8-9. RR pp.216-223''.
 +
* 1930, ''Isabel si apele diavolului'' (''Isabel and the Devil’s Waters''). Editura Naţională Ciornei, Bucharest. RR pp.414-436.
 +
* 1932, ''Într-o Monastire din Himalaya'', (''In a Himalayan Monastery'') Editura Cartea Românească, Bucharest.
 +
* 1932, ''Întoarcerea din rai'' (''Return from Paradise''). Written in late 1932 and published in 1934, Editura Naţională Ciornei, Bucharest. The first part of a projected trilogy with ''Huliganii'' (''The Hooligans'') and ''Viaţa Nouă'' (''New Life''). RR pp.677-707, 1035-1040.
 +
* 1933, ''Maitreyi''. Editura Cultura Naţională, Bucharest. Translated from the Romanian by [[Alain Guillermou]] — ''La Nuit Bengali'', Lausanne: [[Gallimard]], 1950. Translated from the French by Catherine Spencer — ''Bengal Nights'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. RR pp.464-486, pp.535-541.
 +
* 1934, ''Lumina ce se stinge'' (''The Failing Light''), Editura Cartea Românească,Bucharest. RR pp.436-460.
 +
* 1934, ''Şantier'' (''Work in Progress'', an "indirect novel"), Editura Cugetarea, Bucharest, 1935. RR pp.752-755.
 +
* 1935, ''Huliganii'' (''The Hooligans''), Editura Naţionalǎ Ciornei, Bucharest. RR pp.1007-1035.
 +
* 1935, ''Domnişoara Christina'' (''Miss Christina''). ''Mademoiselle Christina''. Paris: L’Herne 1978. (French introduction by Eliade, 1978.). RR pp.1045-1052. ''In Mystic Stories: The Sacred and Profane''. Tr. Ana Cartianu, edited by Kurt Treptow. Classics of Romanian Literature Series, Vol. II. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1992.
 +
* 1936, ''Şarpele'' (''The Serpent''). Editura Naţională Ciornei, Bucharest, 1937. ''Andronic et le Serpent''. Paris: L’Herne 1979. (Introduction by Sorin Alexandresco). RR pp.1057-1073.
 +
* 1937, ''Aventura'' (''An Adventure'') and ''Întâlnire'' (''An Encounter''). Both published in the back of the original edition ''of ''Şarpele''. RR pp.1041-1042.
 +
* 1938, ''Nuntă în cer'' (''Marriage in Heaven''). RR pp.1160-1178. Won the Elba-Brignetti prize for the best novel in Italian 1983, ''Nozze in Ciello''. Also published in German: ''Hochzeit in Himmel''.
 +
* 1939, ''Iphigenia''. Play, first published as ''Iphigenia: piesǎ în trei acte''. Valle Hermosa, Argentina: Editura Cartea Pribegiei, 1951. Also published as ''Ifigenia: piesa in trei acte: cinci tablouri''. Bucharest: ''1974. RR pp.1178-1185.
 +
* 1940, ''Nopţi la Serampore'' (''Nights at Serampore''). Translated by William Ames Coates, in ''Two Strange Tales''. Boston and London: Shambala, 1986. RR pp.1185-1193.
 +
* 1940, ''Secretul doctorului Honigberger'' (''The Secret of Dr. Honigberger''). Translated by William Ames Coates, in ''Two Strange Tales''. Boston and London: Shambala, 1986.
 +
* 1943, ''Oameni si pietre'' (''Men and Stones'') Play. RR pp.1193-1199.
 +
* 1945, ''Un om mare'' (''A Great Man''). Translated by Eric Tappe. In ''Fantastic Tales''. London: Dillon’s, 1969. RR pp.1199-1203.
 +
* 1946, ''Fratele risipitor'' (''The Prodigal Brother''). Luceafărul, 2, 1949, pp. 162-70.)
 +
* 1951, ''1241'' (''A Play in One Act'') in'' Caiete de dor, 4 (1951): 10-14''. Republished in ''Revista de istorie si teorie literară'' XXXIV (April-September, 1986): 2-3.
 +
* 1952, ''Douăsprezece mii de capete de vită'' (''Twelve Thousand Head of Cattle''). Translated by Eric Tappe. In ''Fantastic Tales''. London: Dillon’s, 1969.
 +
* 1954, ''Noaptea de Sânziene'' (''The Forbidden Forest''), Ioan Cusa, Paris, 1971. Translated by M. L. Ricketts and Mary Park Stevenson. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1978.
 +
* 1955, ''Fata capitanului'' (''The Captain’s Daughter''). Published in ''La Ţigănci şi alte povestiri'', Bucharest: Editura pentru Literatură, 1969.
 +
* 1955, ''Adio'' (''Goodbye'') in ''La Ţigănci şi alte povestiri'', translated by M. L. Ricketts in ''Imagination and Meaning. The Scholarly and Literary Works of Mircea Eliade'', edited by Norman Girardot and M. L. Ricketts. New York: The Seabury Press, 1982.
 +
* 1960, ''La Ţigănci'' (''With the Gypsy Girls''). Translated by William Ames Coates. In Tales of the Sacred and Supernatural. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981.
 +
* 1963, ''O fotografie veche de 14 ani'' (''A Fourteen Year Old Photograph''). First published in Nuvele, Madrid; Colecţia Destin, 1963. Translated by M. Ricketts. The Louisberg College Journal, vol. VIII (1974): 3-15.
 +
* 1963, ''Ivan'' in ''Nuvele'', Madrid, Colecţia Destin: 1963.
 +
* 1963, ''Podul'' (''The Bridge''), in ''La Ţigănci şi alte povestiri'', Bucharest.
 +
* 1963, ''Ghicitor in pietre'' (''The Man Who Could Read Stone'') in Nuvele, Madrid, Colectia Destin: 1963. Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts in ''Changing Religious Worlds: The Meaning and End of Mircea Eliade'', ed. Bryan Rennie. Albany, NY: 2000.
 +
* 1964, ''Într-o cazarmă'' (''In a Barracks'') in ''Destin'' (Madrid), 13-14 (1964): 84-92.
 +
* 1967, ''Pe Strada Mântuleasa'' (''The Old Man and The Bureaucrats''). Translated by Mary Park Stevenson. Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
 +
* 1968, ''În curte la Dionis'' (''In Dionysus’ Court'' — a collection of short stories), Editura Cartea Românească, Bucharest.
 +
* 1970, ''Coloana nesfârşită'' (''The Endless Column''), in ''Coloana nesfârşită'', Editura Minerva, 1996. Play. Translated by Mary Park Stevenson in ''Dialectics and Humanism'' 10, 1 (1983): 44-88.
 +
* 1971, ''Uniforme de general'' (''Two Generals’ Uniforms''), in ''În curte la Dionis'' (''In Dionysus’ Court'' — a collection of short stories), ''Caietele inorogului IV, Paris, 1977.''
 +
* 1974, ''Incognito la Buchenwald'' (''Incognito at Buchenwalt''), in ''În curte la Dionis'', ''Caietele inorogului IV, Paris, 1977''.
 +
* 1975, ''Pelerina'' (''The Cape''), in ''Nuvele inedite'', Editura Rum-Irina, Bucharest, 1991. Translated from the Romanian by Mac Linscott Ricketts in ''Youth without Youth. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988.''
 +
* 1976, ''Les Trois Grâces'' in ''În curte la Dionis'', ''Caietele inorogului IV, Paris, 1977''. Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts. ''In Tales of the Sacred and Supernatural. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981''.
 +
* 1976, ''Tinereţe fără de tinereţe'' (''Youth Without Youth'') Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts in ''Youth without Youth''. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988.
 +
* 1979, ''Nouasprezece Trandafiri'' (''Nineteen Roses'') Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts in ''Youth without Youth''. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988.
 +
* 1979, ''Dayan'' in ''Nuvele inedite'', Editura Rum-Irina, Bucharest, 1991.
 +
* 1982, ''La umbra unui crin'' (''In the Shadow of a Lily'') in ''Nuvele inedite'', Editura Rum-Irina, Bucharest, 1991.
 +
 +
===Other===
 +
*1942, ''Salazar'', Editura Gorjan
 +
*1943, ''Os romenos, latinos do oriente''
 +
 +
==Critical works about Eliade==
 +
* Allen, Douglas. 2002. ''Myth and Religion in Mircea Eliade''. London: Routledge.
 +
* Carrasco, David and Law, Jane Marie (eds.).  1985.  ''Waiting for the Dawn''.  Boulder: Westview Press.
 +
* Culianu, Ioan Petru.  1978. ''Mircea Eliade''. Assisi: Citadela Editrice
 +
* Dadosky, John D.  2004.  ''The Structure of Religious Knowing: Encountering the Sacred in Eliade and Lonergan''.  Albany: State University of New York Press.
 +
* Dudley, Guilford.  1977.  ''Religion on Trial: Mircea Eliade & His Critics''.  Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
 +
* Ellwood, Robert S.  1999.  ''The Politics of Myth: A Study of C. G. Jung, Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell''.  Albany: State University of New York Press.
 +
* McCutcheon, Russell T.  1997.  ''Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia''.  New York: Oxford University Press.
 +
* Olson, Carl.  1992.  ''The Theology and Philosophy of Eliade: A Search for the Centre''.  New York: St Martins Press.
 +
* Rennie, Bryan S.  1996.  ''Reconstructing Eliade: Making Sense of Religion''.  Albany: State University of New York Press.
 +
* Rennie, Bryan S. (ed.).  2001.  ''Changing Religious Worlds: The Meaning and End of Mirce Eliade''.  Albany: State University of New York Press.
 +
* Simion, Eugen.  2001.  ''Mircea Eliade: A Spirit of Amplitude''.  Boulder: East European Monographs.
 +
* Strenski, Ivan.  1987.  ''Four Theories of Myth in Twentieth-Century History: Cassirer, Eliade, Levi Strauss and Malinowski''.  Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
 +
* Ţurcanu, Florin.  2003.  ''Mircea Eliade. Le prisonnier de l'histoire''.  Paris: Editions La Découverte.
 +
* Wasserstrom, Steven M.  1999.  ''Religion after Religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos''.  Princeton: Princeton University Press.
 +
 +
==Eliade in cinema==
 +
* ''Mircea Eliade et la redécouverte du Sacré'' ([[1987]]) by [[Paul Barbă Neagră]]
 +
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095759/ ''La Nuit Bengali''] ([[1988]])
 +
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272585/ ''Domnişoara Christina''] ([[1996]])
 +
* [[Francis Ford Coppola]] is currently filming ''[[Youth Without Youth]]'', a movie based on a short novel of the same name by Mircea Eliade.
 +
 +
==See also==
 +
* [[Literature of Romania]]
 +
* [[List of fantasy authors]]
 +
* [[Philosophy of religion]]
 +
 +
==Notes==
 +
<div class="references-small">
 +
<references/>
 +
</div>
 +
 +
==References==
 +
*Paul Cernat, Ion Manolescu, Angelo Mitchievici, Ioan Stanomir, ''Explorări în comunismul românesc'', Polirom, Iaşi, 2004: Paul Cernat, "Îmblânzitorul României Socialiste. De la Bîrca la Chicago şi înapoi", p.346-348
 +
*Victor Frunză, ''Istoria stalinismului în România'', Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990
 +
*{{ro icon}} [http://autori.humanitas.ro/eliade/despre.php Mircea Handoca, ''Convorbiri cu şi despre Mircea Eliade] on [http://autori.humanitas.ro ''Autori'' (Published authors)] page of the [[Humanitas publishing house]]
 +
*[[Z. Ornea]], ''Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească'', Ed. Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucharest, 1995
 +
*Bryan S. Rennie, ''Reconstructing Eliade: making sense of religion'', State University of New York, New York, ISBN 0-7914-2763-3
 +
*{{es icon}} [http://www.inicia.es/de/aribas/eliadee.html Albert Ribas, ''Mircea Eliade, historiador de las religiones'']
 +
*[http://www.friesian.com/eliade.htm Kelley L. Ross, ''Mircea Eliade'', on Friesian.com]
 +
*[[Mihail Sebastian]], ''Journal, 1935-1944: The Fascist Years''
 +
*Leon Volovici, ''Nationalist Ideology and Antisemitism: The Case of Romanian Intellectuals in the 1930s'', Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1991
 +
 +
==External links==
 +
*[http://www.westminster.edu/staff/brennie/eliade/mebio.htm Biography of Mircea Eliade]
 +
*[http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/eliade.htm Books and Writers: Mircea Eliade]
 +
*[http://www.geocities.com/mircea_eliade/meils.htm Mircea Eliade International Literary Society]
 +
 
[[Category: Philosophy and religion]]
 
[[Category: Philosophy and religion]]
 
[[Category: Religion]]
 
[[Category: Religion]]
 
[[Category: Biography]]
 
[[Category: Biography]]
 +
 +
{{Credit|86952190}}

Revision as of 18:50, 10 November 2006

Mircea Eliade (March 13 [O.S. February 28] 1907 – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian, philosopher, theorist of religion, literary critic, and novelist notably in the fantasy and autobiographical genre He had fluent command of five languages (Romanian, French]]German, Italian, English), and less command of three others (Hebrew, Persian and Sanskrit).

In 1928, at the University of Bucharest, he met Emil Cioran and Eugène Ionesco, and the three became, with short interruptions, lifelong friends. Since the 1970s he has been criticized for his pre-1940s sympathies for the Iron Guard, a far right, fascist-inspired political organization.

Biography

Early life

Born in Bucharest, Eliade attended the Spiru Haret National College in the same class as Arşavir Acterian, Haig Acterian, and Petre Viforeanu (and several years the senior of Nicolae Steinhardt, who was to satirize his novels under the pen name Antisthius, and who became a close friend of Eliade's);[1] while in highschool, he wrote his debut work, the autobiographical Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent (influenced by the literature of Giovanni Papini). He graduated from the local university's Faculty of Philosophy in 1928, earning his diploma with a study on Italian Philosophy from Marsilio Ficino to Giordano Bruno, and subsequently traveled to Italy, where he met Papini and collaborated with the scholar Giuseppe Tucci.

His scholarly works began after a long period of study in India at the University of Calcutta. Finding that the Maharaja of Kassimbazar sponsored European scholars to study in India, Eliade applied and was granted an allowance for four years. In 1928 he sailed for Calcutta to study Sanskrit and philosophy under Surendranath Dasgupta, a University of Cambridge-educated Bengali professor at the University of Calcutta and author of a five volume History of Indian Philosophy. While living with Dasgupta, Eliade fell in love with his daughter, Maitreyi Devi, later writing a barely-disguised autobiographical novel (Bengal Nights) in which he claimed that he carried on a physical relationship with her. When she became aware of this account, she contested his account in her own novel Nya Hanyate (It Does Not Die, written in Bengali).

At the time, he became interested in the actions of Mahatma Gandhi, whom he met personally,[2] and the Satyagraha as a phenomenon; later, Eliade adapted Gandhist ideas in his discourse on spirituality and Romania.[3]

Early 1930s

As one of the figures in the Criterion literary society (1933-1934), his initial encounter with the traditional far right was polemical: the group's conferences were stormed by members of A. C. Cuza's National-Christian Defense League, who objected to what they viewed as pacifism and addressed anti-Semitic insults to several speakers, including Mihail Sebastian;[4] in 1933, he was among the signers of a manifesto opposing Nazi Germany's state-enforced racism.[5] Eliade's views at the time focused on innovation — in the summer of 1933, he replied to an anti-modernist critique written by George Călinescu:

"All I wish for is a deep change, a complete transformation. But, for God's sake, in any direction other than spirituality".[6]

However, while a professor at the University of Bucharest (1933-1939), Eliade became active in nationalist politics, eventually enrolling in the Totul pentru Ţară ("Everything for the Fatherland" Party), the political expression of the Iron Guard, and contributing to its 1937 electoral campaign in Prahova County — as indicated by his inclusion on a list of party members with county-level responsibilities (published in Buna Vestire).[7] He also contributed to the movement's press, writing in such papers as Sfarmă Piatră and Buna Vestire. He and friends Cioran and Constantin Noica were by then under the influence of Trăirism, a school of thought that was formed around the ideals expressed by Romanian philosopher Nae Ionescu. A form of existentialism, Trăirism was also the synthesis of traditional and newer right-wing beliefs.[8]

Eliade's articles before and after his adherence to the principles of the Iron Guard (or, as it was usually known at the time, the Legionary Movement), beginning with his famous Itinerar spiritual ("Spiritual itinerary", serialized in Cuvântul in 1927) center on several political ideals advocated by the far right. They displayed his rejection of liberalism and the modernizing goals of the 1848 Wallachian revolution (perceived as "an abstract apology of Mankind"[9] and "ape-like imitation of [Western] Europe"),[10] as well as for democracy itself (accusing it of "managing to crush all attempts at national renaissance",[11] and later praising Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy on the grounds that, according to Eliade, "[in Italy,] he who thinks for himself is promoted to the highest office in the shortest of times").[12] He approved of an ethnic nationalist state centered on the Romanian Orthodox Church (in 1927, despite his still-vivid interest in Theosophy, he recommended young intellectuals "the return to the Church"),[13] which he opposed to, among others, the secular nationalism of Constantin Rădulescu-Motru;[14] referring to this particular ideal as "Romanianism", Eliade was, in 1934, still viewing it as "neither fascism, nor chauvinism".[15] A major dissatifaction with the state focused on the unemployment of intellectuals, whose careers in state-financed institutions had been rendered uncertain by the Great Depression.[16]

Internment and diplomatic service

By 1937, he gave his intellectual support to the Iron Guard, in which he saw "a Christian revolution aimed at creating a new Romania",[17] and a group able "to reconcile Romania with God".[18]

The stance taken by Eliade resulted in his arrest on July 14, 1938 after a crackdown on the Iron Guard authorized by King Carol II. Eliade was kept for three weeks in a permanently lighted cell at the Siguranţa Statului Headquarters, in an attempt to have him sign a "declaration of dissociation" with the Iron Guard, but he refused to do so.[19] In the first week of August he was transferred to a makeshift camp at Miercurea-Ciuc. When Eliade began coughing blood in October 1938, he was taken to a clinic in Moroeni, because the death of a popular young writer in custody was a potential scandal. Eliade was simply released on November 12 and, with the help of Alexandru Rosetti, became the cultural attaché to the United Kingdom, a posting cut short when Romanian-British foreign relations were broken.

After leaving London he retained the same position in Portugal, where he was kept on as diplomat by the National Legionary State (the Iron Guard government) and, ultimately, by Ion Antonescu's regime. In 1942, Eliade authored a volume in praise of the Estado Novo, established in Portugal by António de Oliveira Salazar, alleging that "The Salazarian state, a Christian and totalitarian one, is first and foremost based on love".[20] On July 7 of the same year, he was received by Salazar himself, who asked assigned Eliade the task of warning Antonescu to withdraw the Romanian Army from the Eastern Front ("[In his place], I would not be grinding it in Russia").[21] Eliade also claimed that such contacts with the leader of a neutral country had made him the target for Gestapo surveillance, but that he had managed to communicate Salazar's advice to Mihai Antonescu, Romania's Foreign Minister.[22]

Exile

At signs that the Romanian communist regime was about to take hold, Eliade opted not to return to the country. He lived in France, where, recommended by Georges Dumézil, he taught at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris; it was estimated that, at the time, it was not uncommon for him to work 15 hours a day.[23]

In 1957, he moved to the United States. He was invited by Joachim Wach to give a series of lectures at Wach's home institution, the University of Chicago, and settled in Chicago. Upon Wach's untimely death before the lectures were delivered, Eliade was appointed as his replacement, becoming the Sewell Avery Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions. He also worked as editor-in-chief of Macmillan Publishers' Encyclopedia of Religion, collaborated with Carl Jung and the Eranos circle, and wrote for the Antaios magazine (edited by Ernst Jünger).[24]

Initially attacked with virulence by the Romanian Communist Party press, chiefly by România Liberă (which described him as "the Iron Guard's ideologue, enemy of the working class, apologist of Salzar's dictatorship"),[25] he was slowly rehabilitated beginning in the early 1960s (under the rule of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej).[26]

In the 1970s, Eliade was approached by the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime in several ways, in order to have him return, which Eliade never did. The move was prompted by the officially-sanctioned nationalism and Romania's claim to independence from the Eastern Bloc, as both phenomenons came to see Eliade's prestige as an asset. An unprecedented event occurred with the interview that was granted by Mircea Eliade to poet Adrian Păunescu, during the latter's 1970 visit to Chicago; Eliade complimented both Păunescu's activism and his support for official tenets, expressing a belief that

"the youth of Eastern Europe is clearly superior to that of Western Europe. [...] I am convinced that, within ten years, the young revolutionary generation shan't be behaving as does today the noisy minority of Western contesters. [...] Eastern youth have seen the abolition of traditonal institutions, have accepted it [...] and are not yet content with the enforced structures, but rather seek to improve them".[27]

In 1990, Eliade was elected post-mortem to the Romanian Academy.

The scholar

{{#invoke:Message box|ambox}} In his work on the history of religion, Eliade is most highly regarded for his writings on Shamanism, Yoga and cosmological myths. He has had a decisive influence on many scholars, for instance Ioan Petru Culianu. In Romania, Eliade's legacy in the field of history of religions is mirrored by the journal Archaeus (founded 1997).

An endowed chair in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School was named after Eliade in recognition of his wide contribution to the research on this subject. The current (and first incumbent) holder of this chair is Wendy Doniger, Eliade's colleague from 1978 until his death in 1986.

Eliade's thinking was in part influenced by Rudolf Otto, Gerardus van der Leeuw, Nae Ionescu and the writings of the Traditionalist School. For instance, Eliade's The Sacred and the Profane partially builds on Otto's The Idea of the Holy to show how religion emerges from the experience of the sacred, and myths of time and nature. Although his scholarly work was never subordinated to his early political beliefs, the school of thought he is associated with, has thematic links to Fascism.[citation needed] Eliade was preoccupied with the Zalmoxis' cult and its supposed monotheism.[citation needed]

His scholarly work includes a well known study of shamanism, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, and an analysis of yoga as a concrete search for freedom from human limitations, Yoga, Immortality and Freedom. In Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return Eliade provides an analysis of time as heterogeneous for the religious and homogeneous for the non-religious and a conception of the 'terror of history' and the ability to 'reactualize' religious time.

Eliade's work is viewed as more theological than historical.[citation needed] He is considered to have discerned some valid patterns in mythological and religious traditions, but his presentation of them was often historically cavalier and heavily loaded with his own brand of Romantic spirituality that lauded religions of the "cosmic type" over traditions of history and modernity. Some have traced these views about the "terror of history" and the dangers of modernity to his experiences as a Romanian in World War II.[citation needed]

Controversy: anti-Semitism and links with the Iron Guard

The early years in Eliade's public career show him to have been highly tolerant of the Jews in general, and of the Jewish minority in Romania in particular. His condemnation of Nazi anti-Semitic policies was accompanied by his caution and moderation in regard to Nae Ionescu's various anti-Jewish attacks.[28]

Mihail Sebastian claimed in his Journal that Eliade's actions during the 1930s show him to be an anti-Semite. According to Sebastian, who was Jewish, Eliade had shown himself friendly to him until the start of his political commitments, after which he severed all ties.[29] Before their friendship came apart, however, Sebastian claimed that he took notes on their conversations (which he later published) during which Eliade was supposed to have expressed anti-Semitic views. According to Sebastian, Eliade said in 1939:

"The Poles' resistance in Warsaw is a Jewish resistance. Only yids are capable of the blackmail of putting women and children in the front line, to take advantage of the Germans' sense of scruple. The Germans have no interest in the destruction of Romania. Only a pro-German government can save us.... What is happening on the frontier with Bukovina is a scandal, because new waves of Jews are flooding into the country. Rather than a Romania again invaded by kikes, it would be better to have a German protectorate."[30]

The content of Sebastian's testimony is disputable given the uncharacteristic radicalism of Eliade's supposed views, and the clear but unprecedented esteem reserved for German methods. Beyond his involvement with a movement known for its anti-Semitism, Eliade did not usually comment on Jewish issues. However, a text he contributed to Vremea in 1936 showed that he supported at least some Iron Guard accusations against the Jewish community:

"Ever since the war [that is, World War I], Jews have invaded villages in Maramureş and Bukovina, and have become absolute majority in every town in Bessarabia.[31] [...] It would be absurd to expect Jews to resign themselves in order to become a minority with certain rights and very many duties — after they have tasted the honey of power and conquered as many command positions as they have. Jews are currently fighting with all forces to maintain their positions, expecting a future offensive — and, as far as I am concerned, I understand their fight and admire their vitality, tenacity, genius."[32]

One year later, a text, accompanied by his picture, was featured as answer to an inquiry by the Iron Guard's Buna Vestire about the reasons he had for supporting the movement. A short section of it summarizes an anti-Jewish attitude:

"Can the Romanian nation end its life in the saddest state of decay ever to be known in history, undermined by misery and syphilis, invaded by Jews and torn apart by foreigners, demoralized, betrayed, sold off for some hundreds of millions lei?"[33]

According to the literary critic Z. Ornea, in the 1980s Eliade denied authorship of the text. He explained the use of his signature, his picture, and the picture's caption, as having been applied by the magazine's editor, Mihail Polihroniade, to a piece the latter had written after having failed to obtain Eliade's contribution; he also claimed that, given his respect for Polihroniade, he had not wished to publicize the occurence at any thitherto moment.[34]

The depolitisation of Eliade after the start of his diplomatic career was mistrusted by Eugène Ionesco, who indicated that, upon the close of World War II, Eliade's personal beliefs as expressed to his friends amounted to "all is over now that «Communism has won»" (this forms part of Ionesco's harsh and succinct review of the careers of Legionary-inspired intellectuals, many of them his friends and former friends, in a letter he sent to Tudor Vianu).[35] In August 1954, when Horia Sima, who led the Iron Guard during its exile, was rejected by a faction inside the movement, his name was included on a list of persons who supported the latter (although this may have happened without Eliade's consent).[36]

Further criticism of his political involvement with anti-Semitism and fascism came from Adriana Berger, Leon Volovici, Daniel Dubuisson and others, who have attempted to trace Eliade's anti-Semitism throughout his work and through his associations with contemporary anti-Semites, such as the Italian Fascist occultist Julius Evola. Volovici, for example, is critical of Eliade not only because of his support for the Iron Guard, but also for spreading anti-Semitism and anti-Masonry in 1930s Romania.[37]

Other scholars, like Bryan S. Rennie, have claimed that there is, to date, no evidence of Eliade's membership, active services rendered, or of any real involvement with any fascist or totalitarian movements or membership organizations, nor that there is any evidence of his continued support for nationalist ideals after their inherently violent nature was revealed. They further assert that there is no imprint of overt political beliefs in Eliade's scholarship, and also claim that Eliade's critics are following political agendas.[38]

Works

Selected scholarly works

  • The Comparative History of Yoga Techniques, 1933
  • Oceanografie, 1934
  • Alchimia Asiaticam, 1934
  • Yoga: Essai sur les origines de la mystique indienne, 1936
  • Cosmologie şi alchimie babiloniană, 1937
  • Fragmentarium, 1939
  • Comentarii la legenda Meşterului Manole, 1943
  • Techniques du Yoga, 1948
  • Traitè d'histoire des religions, 1949 - Patterns in Comparative Religion
  • Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l'extase, 1951 - Shamanism: Archaic Technoque of Ecstacy
  • Images et Symboles, 1952 - Images and Symbols
  • Forgerons et alchimistes, 1956 - The Forge and the Crucible
  • Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return, translated: W.R. Trask. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1954. Originally published as Le Mythe de l'eternel retour: archétypes et répetition, 1949.
  • Yoga, Immortality and Freedom, translated: W.R. Trask. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958. First published in French as Yoga: Essai sur l'origine de la mystique Indienne in 1933.
  • Rites and Symbols of Initiation (Birth and Rebirth), translated: W. Trask, London: Harvill Press, 1958. The publication of Eliade's 1956 Haskell Lectures at the University of Chicago, Patterns of Initiation.
  • Patterns in Comparative Religion, translated: R. Sheed, London: Sheed and Ward, 1958.
  • The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, translated from French: W.R. Trask, Harvest/HBJ Publishers, 1957 ISBN 0-15-679201-X.
  • Myths, Dreams and Mysteries: the Encounter between Contemporary Faiths and Archaic Realities, translated: P. Mairet, London: Harvill Press, 1959.
  • Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism, translated: P. Mairet, London: Harvill Press, 1961.
  • Patanjali et Yoga, 1962 - Patanjali and Yoga
  • Myth and Reality, translated: W. Trask, New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
  • Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, translated: W.R. Trask. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964. Originally published Le Chamanisme, 1951.
  • The Two and the One, translated: J.M. Cohen, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
  • The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion, London: University of Chicago Press, 1969.
  • Zalmoxis, The Vanishing God, The University of Chicago Press, 1972.
  • Australian Religions, 1973
  • Occultism, Witchcraft and Cultural Fashions, 1976
  • A History of Religious Ideas, vol. I, From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries, translated: W. Trask, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
  • A History of Religious Ideas, vol. II, From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity, translated: W. Trask, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
  • The History of Religious Ideas, vol. III, From Muhammad to the Age of the Reforms, translated: A. Hiltebeitel and D. Apostolos-Cappadona, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
  • Symbolism, the Sacred, and the Arts, edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, The Crossroad Publishing Company, N.Y., 1986. ISBN 0-8245-0723-1
  • Encyclopedia of Religion (editor-in-chief), New York: Macmillan, 1987.
  • From Primitives to Zen (full text).
  • The Harpercollins Concise Guide to World Religions, 2000 (with Ioan P. Culianu, Hillary S. Wiesner)

Fiction

  • 1921, Cum am găsit piatra filosofală. (How I found the Philosophers’ Stone). Eliade’s first story to be published when he was fourteen years old. RR p.40.
  • 1924, Romanul adolescenului miop. (Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent). Published in serial form in the periodicals Cuvântul, Viaţa Literară, and Universul Literar. Published in French: Le roman de l'adolescent myope. Paris: Acte Sud, 1992. RR pp.48-73.
  • 1927, Itinerar spiritual. (Spiritual Itinerary) Cuvântul (Sept.- Nov. 1927). RR pp.245-270.
  • 1928, Gaudeamus. A sequel to Romanul adolescentului miop, first published in 1986 in Revista de istorie si teorie literară. RR pp.56, 198-201.
  • 1928, Apologia virilităţii (Apology for Virility) In Gândirea, 8 (1928):8-9. RR pp.216-223.
  • 1930, Isabel si apele diavolului (Isabel and the Devil’s Waters). Editura Naţională Ciornei, Bucharest. RR pp.414-436.
  • 1932, Într-o Monastire din Himalaya, (In a Himalayan Monastery) Editura Cartea Românească, Bucharest.
  • 1932, Întoarcerea din rai (Return from Paradise). Written in late 1932 and published in 1934, Editura Naţională Ciornei, Bucharest. The first part of a projected trilogy with Huliganii (The Hooligans) and Viaţa Nouă (New Life). RR pp.677-707, 1035-1040.
  • 1933, Maitreyi. Editura Cultura Naţională, Bucharest. Translated from the Romanian by Alain Guillermou — La Nuit Bengali, Lausanne: Gallimard, 1950. Translated from the French by Catherine Spencer — Bengal Nights, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. RR pp.464-486, pp.535-541.
  • 1934, Lumina ce se stinge (The Failing Light), Editura Cartea Românească,Bucharest. RR pp.436-460.
  • 1934, Şantier (Work in Progress, an "indirect novel"), Editura Cugetarea, Bucharest, 1935. RR pp.752-755.
  • 1935, Huliganii (The Hooligans), Editura Naţionalǎ Ciornei, Bucharest. RR pp.1007-1035.
  • 1935, Domnişoara Christina (Miss Christina). Mademoiselle Christina. Paris: L’Herne 1978. (French introduction by Eliade, 1978.). RR pp.1045-1052. In Mystic Stories: The Sacred and Profane. Tr. Ana Cartianu, edited by Kurt Treptow. Classics of Romanian Literature Series, Vol. II. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1992.
  • 1936, Şarpele (The Serpent). Editura Naţională Ciornei, Bucharest, 1937. Andronic et le Serpent. Paris: L’Herne 1979. (Introduction by Sorin Alexandresco). RR pp.1057-1073.
  • 1937, Aventura (An Adventure) and Întâlnire (An Encounter). Both published in the back of the original edition of Şarpele. RR pp.1041-1042.
  • 1938, Nuntă în cer (Marriage in Heaven). RR pp.1160-1178. Won the Elba-Brignetti prize for the best novel in Italian 1983, Nozze in Ciello. Also published in German: Hochzeit in Himmel.
  • 1939, Iphigenia. Play, first published as Iphigenia: piesǎ în trei acte. Valle Hermosa, Argentina: Editura Cartea Pribegiei, 1951. Also published as Ifigenia: piesa in trei acte: cinci tablouri. Bucharest: 1974. RR pp.1178-1185.
  • 1940, Nopţi la Serampore (Nights at Serampore). Translated by William Ames Coates, in Two Strange Tales. Boston and London: Shambala, 1986. RR pp.1185-1193.
  • 1940, Secretul doctorului Honigberger (The Secret of Dr. Honigberger). Translated by William Ames Coates, in Two Strange Tales. Boston and London: Shambala, 1986.
  • 1943, Oameni si pietre (Men and Stones) Play. RR pp.1193-1199.
  • 1945, Un om mare (A Great Man). Translated by Eric Tappe. In Fantastic Tales. London: Dillon’s, 1969. RR pp.1199-1203.
  • 1946, Fratele risipitor (The Prodigal Brother). Luceafărul, 2, 1949, pp. 162-70.)
  • 1951, 1241 (A Play in One Act) in Caiete de dor, 4 (1951): 10-14. Republished in Revista de istorie si teorie literară XXXIV (April-September, 1986): 2-3.
  • 1952, Douăsprezece mii de capete de vită (Twelve Thousand Head of Cattle). Translated by Eric Tappe. In Fantastic Tales. London: Dillon’s, 1969.
  • 1954, Noaptea de Sânziene (The Forbidden Forest), Ioan Cusa, Paris, 1971. Translated by M. L. Ricketts and Mary Park Stevenson. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1978.
  • 1955, Fata capitanului (The Captain’s Daughter). Published in La Ţigănci şi alte povestiri, Bucharest: Editura pentru Literatură, 1969.
  • 1955, Adio (Goodbye) in La Ţigănci şi alte povestiri, translated by M. L. Ricketts in Imagination and Meaning. The Scholarly and Literary Works of Mircea Eliade, edited by Norman Girardot and M. L. Ricketts. New York: The Seabury Press, 1982.
  • 1960, La Ţigănci (With the Gypsy Girls). Translated by William Ames Coates. In Tales of the Sacred and Supernatural. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981.
  • 1963, O fotografie veche de 14 ani (A Fourteen Year Old Photograph). First published in Nuvele, Madrid; Colecţia Destin, 1963. Translated by M. Ricketts. The Louisberg College Journal, vol. VIII (1974): 3-15.
  • 1963, Ivan in Nuvele, Madrid, Colecţia Destin: 1963.
  • 1963, Podul (The Bridge), in La Ţigănci şi alte povestiri, Bucharest.
  • 1963, Ghicitor in pietre (The Man Who Could Read Stone) in Nuvele, Madrid, Colectia Destin: 1963. Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts in Changing Religious Worlds: The Meaning and End of Mircea Eliade, ed. Bryan Rennie. Albany, NY: 2000.
  • 1964, Într-o cazarmă (In a Barracks) in Destin (Madrid), 13-14 (1964): 84-92.
  • 1967, Pe Strada Mântuleasa (The Old Man and The Bureaucrats). Translated by Mary Park Stevenson. Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
  • 1968, În curte la Dionis (In Dionysus’ Court — a collection of short stories), Editura Cartea Românească, Bucharest.
  • 1970, Coloana nesfârşită (The Endless Column), in Coloana nesfârşită, Editura Minerva, 1996. Play. Translated by Mary Park Stevenson in Dialectics and Humanism 10, 1 (1983): 44-88.
  • 1971, Uniforme de general (Two Generals’ Uniforms), in În curte la Dionis (In Dionysus’ Court — a collection of short stories), Caietele inorogului IV, Paris, 1977.
  • 1974, Incognito la Buchenwald (Incognito at Buchenwalt), in În curte la Dionis, Caietele inorogului IV, Paris, 1977.
  • 1975, Pelerina (The Cape), in Nuvele inedite, Editura Rum-Irina, Bucharest, 1991. Translated from the Romanian by Mac Linscott Ricketts in Youth without Youth. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988.
  • 1976, Les Trois Grâces in În curte la Dionis, Caietele inorogului IV, Paris, 1977. Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts. In Tales of the Sacred and Supernatural. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981.
  • 1976, Tinereţe fără de tinereţe (Youth Without Youth) Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts in Youth without Youth. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988.
  • 1979, Nouasprezece Trandafiri (Nineteen Roses) Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts in Youth without Youth. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1988.
  • 1979, Dayan in Nuvele inedite, Editura Rum-Irina, Bucharest, 1991.
  • 1982, La umbra unui crin (In the Shadow of a Lily) in Nuvele inedite, Editura Rum-Irina, Bucharest, 1991.

Other

  • 1942, Salazar, Editura Gorjan
  • 1943, Os romenos, latinos do oriente

Critical works about Eliade

  • Allen, Douglas. 2002. Myth and Religion in Mircea Eliade. London: Routledge.
  • Carrasco, David and Law, Jane Marie (eds.). 1985. Waiting for the Dawn. Boulder: Westview Press.
  • Culianu, Ioan Petru. 1978. Mircea Eliade. Assisi: Citadela Editrice
  • Dadosky, John D. 2004. The Structure of Religious Knowing: Encountering the Sacred in Eliade and Lonergan. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • Dudley, Guilford. 1977. Religion on Trial: Mircea Eliade & His Critics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Ellwood, Robert S. 1999. The Politics of Myth: A Study of C. G. Jung, Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • McCutcheon, Russell T. 1997. Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Olson, Carl. 1992. The Theology and Philosophy of Eliade: A Search for the Centre. New York: St Martins Press.
  • Rennie, Bryan S. 1996. Reconstructing Eliade: Making Sense of Religion. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • Rennie, Bryan S. (ed.). 2001. Changing Religious Worlds: The Meaning and End of Mirce Eliade. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • Simion, Eugen. 2001. Mircea Eliade: A Spirit of Amplitude. Boulder: East European Monographs.
  • Strenski, Ivan. 1987. Four Theories of Myth in Twentieth-Century History: Cassirer, Eliade, Levi Strauss and Malinowski. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
  • Ţurcanu, Florin. 2003. Mircea Eliade. Le prisonnier de l'histoire. Paris: Editions La Découverte.
  • Wasserstrom, Steven M. 1999. Religion after Religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Eliade in cinema

  • Mircea Eliade et la redécouverte du Sacré (1987) by Paul Barbă Neagră
  • La Nuit Bengali (1988)
  • Domnişoara Christina (1996)
  • Francis Ford Coppola is currently filming Youth Without Youth, a movie based on a short novel of the same name by Mircea Eliade.

See also

Notes

  1. Steinhardt, in Handoca
  2. Ross
  3. Ross
  4. Ornea, p.150-151, 153
  5. Ornea, p.174-175
  6. Eliade, 1933, in Ornea, p.167
  7. Ornea, p.207
  8. Ornea, Chapter IV
  9. Eliade, 1933, in Ornea, p.32
  10. Eliade, 1936, in Ornea, p.32
  11. Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.53
  12. Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.53
  13. Eliade, 1927, in Ornea, p.147
  14. Eliade, 1935, in Ornea, p.128
  15. Eliade, 1934, in Ornea, p.136
  16. Eliade, 1933, in Ornea, p.178, 186
  17. Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.203
  18. Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.203
  19. Ornea, p.209
  20. Eliade, Salazar, in "Eliade despre Salazar", Evenimentul Zilei, October 13, 2002
  21. Eliade, in Handoca
  22. Eliade, in Handoca; Ross
  23. Ribas
  24. Ribas
  25. România Liberă, passim September-October 1944, in Frunză
  26. Frunză, p.448-449
  27. Eliade, 1970, in Cernat, p.346
  28. Ornea, p.408-409, 412
  29. Sebastian, passim
  30. Sebastian, p. 238
  31. It was popular prejudice in the late 1930s to claim that Ukrainian Jews in the Soviet Union had obtained Romanian citizenship illegally after passing the border into Maramureş and Bukovina. In 1938, this accusation served as an excuse for the Octavian Goga-A. C. Cuza government to suspend and review all Jewish citizenship guaranteed after 1923, rendering it very difficult to regain (Ornea, p.391). Eliade's mention of Bessarabia probably refers to an earlier period, being his interpretation of a pre-Greater Romania process.
  32. Eliade, 1936, in Ornea, p.412-413
  33. Eliade, 1937, in Ornea, p.413
  34. Ornea, p.206; Ornea is sceptical of these explanations, given both the long period of time spent before Eliade gave them, and especially the fact that the article itself, despite the haste in which it ought to have been written, has remarkably detailed references to many articles written by Eliade in various papers over a period of time.
  35. Ionesco, 1945, in Ornea, p.184
  36. Ornea, p.210
  37. Volovici, p.104–105, 110–111, 120–126, 134
  38. Rennie p.149—177; Ross

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

External links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.