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Mircea Eliade ( March 13 1907 , Bucharest - April 22 1986 , Chicago, Illinois ) was a Romanian historian of religions and Novel ist ( Fantasy and Autobiographical ). He had fluent command of eight languages ( Romanian , French , German , Italian , English , 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-war sympathies for the Iron Guard , a Far Right , Fascist -inspired political organization. LIFE Eliade graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Bucharest, gaining his diploma with a study on the Italian Renaissance . He subsequently traveled to Italy , where he collaborated with 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 (1885-1952), a University Of Cambridge -educated Bengal i professor at the University of Calcutta and author of a five volume ''History of Indian Philosophy''. While a professor at the University of Bucharest, Eliade became active in Nationalist politics, eventually running for Parliament in December 1937 on the platform of ''Totul pentru Ţară'' ("Everything for the Fatherland" Party), the political expression of the Iron Guard. He contributed to the movement's press, writing in such papers as ''Sfarmă Piatră'' and ''Buna Vestire''. He and Cioran 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. The pro-Iron Guard stance taken by Eliade resulted in his arrest on the July 14 1938 after a crackdown 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. 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 , even became the cultural ambassador to the United Kingdom and, later, Portugal (in the latter capacity, he implicitly functioned as diplomat for the National Legionary State -- the brief interval when the Iron Guard formed Romania's government). At signs that the Romanian Communist Regime was about to take hold, Eliade opted not to return to the country, living in France (where he taught at the École Pratique Des Hautes Études ) and, from 1957, in the United States . He lectured at the University Of Chicago . In the 1970s, Eliade was approached by the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime in several ways, in order to have him return. The move was prompted by the officially-sanctioned nationalism and Romania's claim to independence from the Eastern Bloc , which had come 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 visit to Chicago (in 1970). THE SCHOLAR In his Euhemeristic 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 ). The History of Religions section of the University of Chicago bears Mircea Eliade's name in recognition of his wide contribution to the research on this subject. Eliade's thinking was in part influenced by Rudolf Otto , Gerardus Van Der Leeuw , Nae Ionescu and the writings of the Traditionalist School . Although his scholarly work was never subordinated to his early political beliefs, the school of thought he adhered to was, to a certain extent, in line with the Esoterical preocupations of Fascism (connections that were also established in the works of traditionalist scholar Julius Evola ). At the same time, the Iron Guard stood out among Fascist movements for its Mystical character -- prevalent themes that were investigated by Eliade during, as well as after, his political activities (notably, the preocupation for Zalmoxis ' cult and its supposed Monotheism ). These are possibly the characteristics which initially attracted Eliade to Fascism, rather than a pattern he would have followed throughout his life. CONTROVERSY: ANTI-SEMITISM AND PRO-FASCISM 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. Before their friendship came apart, Sebastian took notes on the conversations he had with Eliade. In later years, he published them. Here is a sample: :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. ::-- Mircea Eliade, from a 1939 conversation recorded by Mihail Sebastian in his "Journal 1935-1944: The Fascist Years" (p. 238) Further criticism of Eliade's 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 oeuvre 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 antisemitism and antimasonry in 1930s Romania (pp. 104–105, 110–111, 120–126, 134). 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 inheretently violent nature was revealed. They further assert that there is no imprint of overt political beliefs in Eliade's scholarship; they also claim that Eliade's critics are following political agendas. This de-politicization of Eliade is difficult to support, given his having stood for election under the auspices of the "Everything for the Fatherland" Party, his refusal to sign the "declaration of dissociation" with the Iron Guard, and the testimony of his one-time friend, Mihail Sebastian. SELECTED SCHOLARLY WORKS
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CRITICAL WORKS ABOUT ELIADE
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