Mircea Eliade facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mircea Eliade
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | March 13, 1907 Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania |
| Died | April 22, 1986 (aged 79) Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Resting place | Oak Woods Cemetery |
| Occupation | Historian, philosopher, short story writer, journalist, essayist, novelist |
| Language | |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Citizenship | Romania United States |
| Education | |
| Period | 1921–1986 |
| Genre | Fantasy, autobiography, travel literature |
| Subject | History of religion, philosophy of religion, cultural history, political history |
| Literary movement | Modernism Criterion Trăirism |
| Parents | Gheorghe Eliade Jeana née Vasilescu |
Mircea Eliade (born March 13, 1907 – died April 22, 1986) was a famous Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was known for his deep studies of myths, religions, and human beliefs across different cultures.
Contents
Biography
Early Life in Romania
Mircea Eliade was born in Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania. His father, Gheorghe Eliade, was an officer, and his mother was Jeana Vasilescu. His father, who was an Orthodox Christian, registered his birth a few days early to match a special religious holiday. Mircea had a sister named Corina.
His family moved around a bit before settling in Bucharest in 1914. They bought a house where Mircea lived until he was a teenager. He remembered his childhood fondly, especially unusual events that shaped his thinking. For example, during World War I, when he was about ten, he saw German zeppelins bombing Bucharest. He also felt the strong sense of patriotism in the city when Romania managed to stop the enemy's advance.
School Days and Growing Interests
After primary school, Eliade attended the Spiru Haret National College. He was in the same class as several people who would become important figures later on, like Constantin Noica, a future philosopher.
As a child, Eliade loved nature and Romanian folklore. He was also interested in the Christian faith as practiced by people in the countryside. He wanted to find the common ideas behind all religious traditions. Young Eliade also enjoyed physical activities like mountaineering and sailing. He even joined the Romanian Boy Scouts. With friends, he built and sailed a boat on the Danube River to the Black Sea.
Eliade found school discipline difficult. He became very interested in natural science and chemistry, as well as the occult. He wrote short pieces on insects. Even though his father worried about his eyesight, Eliade read a lot. He loved authors like Honoré de Balzac and learned about social anthropology from James George Frazer.
His interests led him to learn Italian and English on his own. He also started studying Persian and Hebrew. He read ancient poems and stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh. He also studied philosophy, including Socrates and the Stoics. His first published work was in 1921, and his first book, Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent, came out four years later.
Literary Works and Public Life
Eliade's stories often mixed fantastic elements with real-life experiences. Some of his most famous novels include Maitreyi and Noaptea de Sânziene ('The Forbidden Forest'). He also wrote novellas like Domnișoara Christina ('Miss Christina') and Tinerețe fără tinerețe ('Youth Without Youth').
Early in his career, Eliade worked as a journalist and essayist. He was a student of the philosopher Nae Ionescu. In the 1940s, he worked as a cultural attaché for Romania in the United Kingdom and Portugal. During the late 1930s, Eliade publicly supported a political group called the Iron Guard. After World War II, his past political connections were often discussed and criticized.
Later Years and Achievements
In 1966, Mircea Eliade became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also the main editor for the Encyclopedia of Religion published by Macmillan Publishers. In 1968, he taught religious history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. During this time, he finished his important book, History of Religious Ideas, which shared his main ideas about religious history. He traveled to places like Sweden and Norway for conferences.
In his later years, severe arthritis made writing difficult. He received important awards, including the Bordin Prize from the Académie française in 1977. He also received an honorary doctorate from George Washington University in 1985.
Mircea Eliade passed away in April 1986 after suffering a stroke. He was cremated in Chicago, and his grave is in Oak Woods Cemetery.
Eliade was known for his vast knowledge and could speak five languages fluently: Romanian, French, German, Italian, and English. He could also read Hebrew, Persian, and Sanskrit. After his death, he was made a member of the Romanian Academy.
Work
Understanding Myths and Religion
Eliade is famous for trying to find common ideas and patterns across different religions, especially in their myths. He believed that in traditional societies, myths tell the absolute truth about a very old, special time. This was a time when the "Sacred" (holy or divine) first appeared, giving the world its structure. Myths, he argued, describe the first events that made society and nature the way they are. Eliade said that all myths are, in a way, stories about "creation."
Many traditional societies believe that the power of something comes from its beginning. If the beginning equals power, then "it is the first time something appears that is important and true." This means a thing's true nature and value are found only in its first appearance.
Eliade believed that traditional people didn't value the regular flow of history. Only the events of the mythical age had true meaning. To give their own lives meaning, traditional people would perform myths and rituals. Because the Sacred's power is in its first appearance, any later appearance is like a new first appearance. By telling or acting out mythical events, myths and rituals make those events "happen again" in the present. Eliade called this idea the "eternal return."
Eliade suggested that wanting to stay in this mythical age caused a "terror of history." Traditional people wanted to escape the normal flow of events, which Eliade felt they saw as empty of real meaning. He thought that when modern people stopped thinking mythically and fully accepted linear, historical time, it led to some of their worries and anxieties.
The Center of the World
A common idea in Eliade's study of myths is the axis mundi, which means the Center of the World. Eliade believed that this Cosmic Center is needed because reality is divided into the Sacred and the ordinary (profane).
Since ordinary space doesn't give people a clear direction for their lives, the Sacred must show itself in a special way, creating a holy place around which people can find their bearings. This holy place becomes a "fixed point, a center." This Center removes the "sameness and uncertainty of ordinary space" because it becomes "the central line for all future direction."
When the Sacred appears in ordinary space, it's like something breaking through from one level of existence to another. So, the first time the Sacred appears to create a Center must be a point where different levels connect. Eliade said this explains why myths often show a Cosmic Tree or a Pillar joining Heaven, Earth, and the underworld.
Eliade also studied shamanism, which involves spiritual practices and healing.
Philosophy
Besides his writings on politics, young Mircea Eliade also wrote philosophical essays. One of his notable works was Soliloquii ('Soliloquies') in 1932, where he explored existential philosophy, which deals with questions about human existence and freedom.
Cultural legacy
Honoring Mircea Eliade
The University of Chicago Divinity School created a special teaching position (an endowed chair) in the History of Religions named after Eliade. This was to honor his great contributions to studying this subject.
In 2006, the University of Chicago held a conference to look back at Eliade's work and life. This was between the 50th anniversary of another scholar's death and the 100th anniversary of Eliade's birth.
In 1990, after the Romanian Revolution, Eliade was chosen to be a member of the Romanian Academy after his death.
In a 2006 poll by Romanian Television 1, Mircea Eliade was voted the 7th Greatest Romanian in history. A boulevard in Bucharest, a street in Cluj-Napoca, and high schools in several cities are named after him. His second home in Bucharest has a special plaque in his honor.
See also
In Spanish: Mircea Eliade para niños
- Sântoaderi, supernatural entities found in Romanian folklore
Images for kids
-
Eliade in 1933
-
Eliade's home in Bucharest (1934–1940)
-
The Cosmic Tree Yggdrasill, as depicted in a 17th-century Icelandic miniature
-
Eliade's grave at Oak Woods Cemetery
-
Moses taking off his shoes in front of the burning bush (illustration from a 16th-century edition of the Speculum Humanae Salvationis).
_at_Oak_Woods_Cemetery,_Chicago.jpg)
