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Title: The Myth of the Eternal Return: Or, Cosmos and History by Mircea Eliade, Willard Trask ISBN: 0-691-01777-8 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 November, 1971 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.11 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Still relevant
Comment: This book was written in 1949. In the Preface he says that he considers it his most important work. I think not; I think he was being disingenuous or modest and was concerned about "history," the book having been written only 4 years after WWII. Nevertheless I think it is an important work of his and probably the best to read for an introduction to his thought, which is still surprisingly fresh after more than 50 years.
This is a short book, only 162 pages. Each page, however, is packed with ideas and meaning. Eliade tries to show the differences between what he calls "archaic" or "traditional" man and the man of modern societies, primarily Western; those being that archaic man's behavior is governed by myths and archetypes and a cyclical, or cosmic, view of time, whereas modern man, for the most part, is governed only by himself and his own ability to "make" history, and therefore has a linear, or historical, view of time, a position that is without any "transcendant" models, myths, or archetypes. He also attempts to show the emptiness of various historicisic philosphies, such as those by Dilthey, Heidegger, Croce, Gasset. I think Eliade is still worth hearing, and in fact was one of the great minds and encyclopediasts of the 20th century. If the reader is interested in myth, the philosophy of history, phenomenology, ethnology, and theology, or even just the idea of transhistorical ideas or meaning in life, Eliade is a must read. "The Myth of the Eternal Return" is a good starting point for Eliade, followed by "The Sacred and The Profane."
Rating: 3
Summary: Contents are spectacular, translation is wanting
Comment: I cannot add to any of the other excellent synopses of the contents of this seminal work. The ideas are fascinating and the perspective unique. The concepts under discussion are sophisticated, but elegant, and the work is certainly written for thinking persons who are given to pondering unanswerables.
Here is where I diverge from the other readers' sparkling reviews: this is the most laborious, bombastic, convoluted text, more given to flamboyant language structure--and leaving content to languish under the suffocation of verbiage--than any book I have ever read.
Be prepared for the most archaic of words, the least succinct of summations, and the most roundabout explanations of what are already intricate interrelationships in a complex system. Although I have never seen, nor could read, the original text, the translators do no favors for the reader, and, I fear, a great disservice to Mr. Eliade's intent in the interest of being faithful to the original.
I hope that one day a more accessible translation will be available.
Rating: 5
Summary: Back to the Future
Comment: Stated most simply, this is a study of two understandings of what it means to exist in time: the archaic or traditional and the modern. According to Eliade man has traditionally sought to conform his actions in time to primordial or mythic actions performed by gods or heroes in the beginning of time. By conforming his actions to those performed in the beginning or as Eliade puts it "in illo tempore", traditional man gives significance to those actions. He saves his life in time from the terrors of meaninglessness. Modern man on the other hand, has lost or rejected the archetypical world, the world of eternity. He sees nothing beyond the world of time. Modern man, according to Eliade is "historical man." Rather than seeking to transcend history, he "consciously and voluntarily creates history." He is "the man who is in so far as he makes himself, within history."
This neat division is complicated however, by the Judaic prophets and Christianity. The God of the Jewish people is a personal God who intervenes in history and reveals his will through events. "Historical facts thus become 'situations' of man in respect to God, and as such they acquire a religious value that nothing had previously been able confer on them." The relationship with Yahweh brings into play a new element according to Eliade--faith. Christianity takes up the Jewish understanding and amplifies it. For Christianity the meaning of history "is unique because the Incarnation is a unique fact." Yet the archaic understanding of returning to the archetype is not altogether rejected by Christianity, but woven into its' new understanding of the uniqueness of historical events.
This essay spans 162 pages that are divided into four large chapters with subheadings. The first chapter introduces the notions of the archetype, the return to the archetype, and their relation to sacred and profane time and place. The second chapter deals in depth with sacred time as a return to eternity. The third chapter examines suffering and the return to the archetype. The forth chapter looks at the modern understanding of history as it relates to the archaic. The book includes and extensive bibliography and an index.
No summary can do justice to the depth, range, and brilliance of Eliade's essay. His knowledge of religions is damn near encyclopedic. He opens up so many interesting avenues for further thought that reading him is like having your brain fertilized. This book is must reading for anyone interested in religion, myth, philosophy of history, personalism, liturgy, or the idea of progress. If you are interested in traditionalist thinkers such as Rene Guenon or Ananda Coomaraswamy you will also want to check out Eliade.
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Title: The Sacred and Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade, Willard Trask ISBN: 015679201X Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: October, 1968 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Images and Symbols by Mircea Eliade, Philip Mairet ISBN: 069102068X Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 05 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Patterns in Comparative Religion by Mircea Eliade, Rosemary Sheed, John C. Holt ISBN: 0803267339 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: November, 1996 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Myth and Reality (Religious Traditions of the World) by Mircea Eliade ISBN: 1577660099 Publisher: Waveland Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth by Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask ISBN: 0882143581 Publisher: Spring Pubns Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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