Autobiography, Volume 1: 1907-1937, Journey East, Journey West [Paperback]

Mircea Eliade (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226204073 | ISBN-13: 978-0226204079 | Publication Date: January 16, 1990

"Here finally are Eliade's memoirs of the first thirty years of his life in Mac Linscott Rickett's crisp and lucid English translation. They present a fascinating account of the early development of a Renaissance talent, expressed in everything from daily and periodical journalism, realistic and fantastic fiction, and general nonfiction works to distinguished contributions to the history of religions. Autobiography follows an apparently amazingly candid report of this remarkable man's progression from a mischievous street urchin and literary prodigy, through his various love affairs, a decisive and traumatic Indian sojourn, and active, brilliant participation in pre-World War II Romanian cultural life."—Seymour Cain, Religious Studies Review

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Romanian (translation)

About the Author

Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) was the Sewell L. Avery Distinguished Service Professor in the Divinty School and professor in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. In 1985 the trustees of the University established the Mircea Eliade Chair in the History of Religions in his honor. His many books include novels, short stories, and plays as well as works in the history of religion, most notably the Encyclopedia of Religions and A History of Religious Ideas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 347 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (January 16, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226204073
• ISBN-13: 978-0226204079
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #797,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About both volumes of the autobiography, June 11, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Autobiography, Volume 1: 1907-1937, Journey East, Journey West (Paperback)

Mircea Eliade is a maniac: He read about a book each night. He trained himself to sleep less and less, so that he could learn in the night. That paid well in terms of producing a knowledge which has seldomly been reached by a historian of religion. He especially knew about similar things in very different religions, so that he saw parallels, where nobody thought about it before. He wrote novels as well as religios history books, including the well known "Yoga, Immortality and Freedom".

This autobiography covers the most interesting part of his life, but does not make it to the end, which has the effect, that no one knows, what happend, when the woman, he loved in India visited him later in life in Chicago. That's quite a story, because of who the woman was and because of the shaking novel about the affair. The biography covers his Romanian time and the time in India. He writes very openly not hiding unpleasant things. He tried both, to understand indian religions and to live it. The science he did, but trying to live it with Dasgupta and within the Shivananda ashram, both ended in stories with women. With Dasgupta he was to study, but also he wanted to live like a hindu and in the ashram he wanted to practice yoga. Later he became a professor of history of religion at the university of Chicago. It's now some time, since I read this biography and my comments are not propperly weighted, but I can still say, that Eliade was a fascinating person and did good writing and he knew nearly everything. (Just to say: English is a foreign language to me, so please forgive mistakes)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some information about Mircea's first love in India, July 20, 2001

By 

Jiten M. Shah (Northbrook (Chicago), IL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Autobiography Vol. 1: Journey East, Journey West, 1907-1937 (Paperback)

Mircea's first love in India (Amrita/Amruta, penname "maitrayi devi"--who died on January 4, 1990) had published her own memoir in Bengali (her mothertongue and one of the principal language of India). The title of her book is "Na Hanyate" which means "It does not die". It is a fairly intense memoir showing her impression and the spiritual implication. I am not sure if the book is translated in English or not. I was impressed by her candor and honesty. In 1976, her book received an award from the "sahitya academy" (academy for litrature) in India. I have tried to supply some information that was missing from Mircea'a autobiography. I hope the readers will find this information useful.