“Against the terror of History there are only two possibilities of defense: action or contemplation.”
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Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and interpreter of religious experience, he established paradigms in religious studies. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and pro…
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culture · Romanian historian (1907–1986) · anthropologist · diplomat · historian of religion · historian · journalist · novelist · philosopher · essayist · playwright · pedagogue · also Mircea Eliade, Eliade
Born 9 March 1907 · Died 22 April 1986 · Q41590
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2026· 4 entries
“a sincere brain is unassailable, for it denies itself to any relationship with outside truths.”
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“His Treatise on the History of Religions was praised by French philologist Georges Dumézil for its coherence and ability to synthesize diverse and distinct mythologies. Robert Ellwood describes Eliade”
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agerpres: DOCUMENTAR: 40 de ani de la moartea lui Mircea Eliade, istoric al religiilor, filosof și prozator (22 aprilie)
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2023· 1 entry
Publishers Weekly: Books by Mircea Eliade and Complete Book Reviews
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2021· 2 entries
The American Conservative: Mircea Eliade On The Meaning Of Temples
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The American Conservative: Mircea Eliade’s Guide To The Sacred
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2007· 2 entries
Romanian anthropologist Andrei Oișteanu recounted how, around 1984, the Securitate unsuccessfully attempted to become an agent of influence in Eliade's Chicago circle
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Florin Ţurcanu's biographical volume on Eliade was issued in a German translation by the Antaios publishing house, which is mouthpiece for the Neue Rechte
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2006· 1 entry
Nominated Mircea Eliade as the 7th Greatest Romanian in history; his case was argued by the journalist Dragoş Bucurenci (see 100 greatest Romanians)
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2005· 1 entry
The Romanian literary critic and translator Antoaneta Ralian, who was an acquaintance of Bellow's, argued that much of the negative portrayal was owed to a personal choice Bellow made (after having divorced from Alexandr
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2003· 1 entry
Starring, among others, Adriana Trandafir, Florin Zamfirescu, and Carmen Tănase
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2001· 1 entry
“The Apocalypse According to Mircea Eliade”
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2000· 1 entry
Saul Bellow published his controversial Ravelstein novel
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1991· 1 entry
Exiled novelist Norman Manea published an essay firmly condemning Eliade's attachment to the Iron Guard
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1990· 2 entries
Was elected a posthumous member of the Romanian Academy
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After the Romanian Revolution, Eliade was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy
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1986· 13 entries
Awarded Gordon J. Laing Award (1986).
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Died 1986-04-22.
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“It would be frightening to think that in all the cosmos, which is so harmonious, so complete and equal to itself, that only human life is happening randomly, that only one's destiny lacks meaning.”
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“Brzydota, nuda, gloryfikacja banału, co ostentacyjnie eksponują dzieła sztuki ostatniego dwudziestolecia, stanowią – obok nihilizmu w filozofii, anarchii w etyce społecznej i przemocy w polityce – wyraz tej samej, specyficznej sytuacji egzystencjalnej człowieka zachodniego.”
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“Człowiek (…) pozostaje zawsze więźniem własnej intuicji archetypu.”
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“Czym właściwie jest „mit”? (…) Nareszcie zaczynamy poznawać i rozumieć wartość mitu taką, jaka została wypracowana przez społeczeństwa „pierwotne” i archaiczne (…). Od razu uderza nas fakt, że w takich społeczeństwach uznaje się mit za wyraz prawdy absolutnej, ponieważ opowiada on historię świętą (…).”
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“Opis: o książce Rewolta przeciw współczesnemu światu Juliusa Evoli.”
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“Opis: o korespondencji z Juliusem Evolą.”
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“Mit – to prawdziwa historia, która zdarzyła się na początku.”
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“Myślenie symboliczne nie jest właściwością jedynie dziecka, poety czy psychopaty: jest ono konsubstancjalne z ludzkim bytem – wyprzedza mowę i rozum dyskursywny.”
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“To believe that I could, at twenty-three, sacrifice history and culture for "the Absolute" was further proof that I had not understood India. My vocation was culture, not sainthood.”
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“The way towards 'wisdom' or towards 'freedom' is the way towards your inner being. This is the simplest definition of metaphysics.”
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“The psychological and parapsychological experience of the East in general, and of yoga in particular, is unchallengeably more extensive and more organized than the experience on which the Western theories of the structure of the psyche have been erected.”
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1981· 1 entry
At the Romanian Radio; the second, titled La señorita Cristina, was written by Spanish composer Luis de Pablo and premiered in 2000 at the Teatro Real in Madrid
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1977· 1 entry
Joined other exiled Romanian intellectuals in signing a telegram protesting the repressive measures newly enforced by the Ceaușescu regime
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1976· 1 entry
Awarded doctor honoris causa from the Paris-Sorbonne University (1976).
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1972· 1 entry
By the Israeli magazine Toladot, which claimed that, as an official representative, Eliade was aware of Antonescu's agreement to implement the Final Solution in Romania and of how this could affect Sebastian (see Holocau
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1969· 1 entry
Eliade's past became the subject of public debate in Israel
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1968· 1 entry
Lectured in religious history at the University of California, Santa Barbara
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1966· 1 entry
Mircea Eliade became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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1964· 1 entry
The Sewell Avery Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions
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1954· 1 entry
With the first edition of his volume on Eternal Return, Eliade also enjoyed commercial success: the book went through several editions under different titles, and sold over 100,000 copies
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1950· 1 entry
Eliade began attending Eranos conferences, meeting Jung, Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, Gershom Scholem and Paul Radin
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1949· 1 entry
And wrote for the Antaios magazine (edited by Ernst Jünger)
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1948· 1 entry
Wrote for the journal Critique, edited by French philosopher Georges Bataille
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1947· 1 entry
Was facing material constraints, and Ananda Coomaraswamy found him a job as a French-language teacher in the United States, at a school in Arizona; the arrangement ended upon Coomaraswamy's death in September
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1946· 2 entries
Ionesco indicated to Petru Comarnescu that he did not want to see either Eliade or Cioran, and that he considered the two of them "Legionaries for ever"—adding "we are hyenas to one another"
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Refused to see Eliade, arguing that, as an Iron Guard affiliate, the latter had "denounced left-wingers", and contrasting him with Cioran ("They are both Legionaries, but [Cioran] is honest")
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1945· 2 entries
Moved to France with his adopted daughter Giza
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“s use of mescaline as a source of inspiration had something in common with his own experience, indicating 1945 as a date of reference and adding that it was”
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1942· 1 entry
Eliade authored a volume in praise of the Estado Novo, established in Portugal by António de Oliveira Salazar, claiming that "The Salazarian state, a Christian and totalitarian one, is first and foremost based on love"
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1941· 1 entry
During his time in Portugal, Eliade stayed in Estoril, at the Hotel Palácio
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1938· 1 entry
After a crackdown on the Iron Guard authorized by King Carol II
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1936· 5 entries
Eliade accepted an award from the Romanian Writers' Society, of which he had been a member since 1934
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During a trip he made to the United Kingdom and Germany, when he first visited London, Oxford, and Berlin
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Eliade was the focus of a campaign in the far right press, being targeted for having authored "pornography" in his Domnișoara Christina and Isabel și apele diavolului; similar accusations were aimed at other cultural fig
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Reflecting on the early history of the Romanian Kingdom and its Jewish community, he deplored the expulsion of Jewish scholars from Romania, making specific references to Moses Gaster, Heimann Hariton Tiktin and Lazăr Șă
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Showed that he supported at least some Iron Guard accusations against the Jewish community:
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1935· 1 entry
When the latter publicly accused Eliade of serving as an agent for the secret police, Siguranța Statului (Sebastian answered to the statement by alleging that Zilber was himself a secret agent, and the latter eventually
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1934· 2 entries
Still viewing it as "neither fascism, nor chauvinism"
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At a time when Sebastian was publicly insulted by Nae Ionescu, who prefaced his book (De două mii de ani
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1933· 2 entries
Was among the signers of a manifesto opposing Nazi Germany's state-enforced racism
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Mircea Eliade had a physical relationship with the actress Sorana Țopa, while falling in love with Nina Mareș, whom he ultimately married
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1930· 2 entries
Saw Eliade defining Julius Evola as a great thinker and offering praise to the controversial intellectuals Oswald Spengler, Arthur de Gobineau, Houston Stewart Chamberlain and the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg
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While living with Dasgupta, Eliade fell in love with his host's daughter and the protege of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, Maitreyi Devi, later writing a barely disguised autobiographical novel Maitreyi (also known
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1927· 2 entries
Eliade traveled to Italy, where he met Papini and collaborated with the scholar Giuseppe Tucci
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Despite his still-vivid interest in Theosophy, he recommended young intellectuals "the return to the Church"), which he opposed to, among others, the secular nationalism of Constantin Rădulescu-Motru; referring to this p
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1914· 1 entry
And purchasing a house on Melodiei Street, near Piața Rosetti, where Mircea Eliade resided until late in his teens
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1907· 1 entry
Born 1907-03-09.
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