Mircea Eliade - Comparative Religion and other works (13 books)

MIRCEA ELIADE (1907-1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience who established paradigms in religious studies that remain important to this day.

Eliade is noted for his attempt to find broad, cross-cultural parallels and unities in religion, particularly in myths. His theory that "hierophanies" (i.e., manifestations of the sacred in the world) form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, was particularly influential. Eliade is most highly regarded for his writings on alchemy, shamanism, yoga and what he called the "eternal return" -- the belief that religious behavior and ritual not only commemorates, but also participates in, sacred events, and thus restores the mythical time of origins.

In addition to his work on religion and mystical experience, Eliade also expressed his views in literary works, notably the novels BENGAL NIGHTS (1933), THE FORBIDDEN FOREST (1955), and YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (1976).


The following books are in PDF format, all of which are either new or reprocessed scans with contents in bookmarks and accurate pagination:

* BENGAL NIGHTS: A Novel (University of Chicago Press, 1994). Translated by Catherine Spencer.

* COSMOS AND HISTORY: THE MYTH OF THE ETERNAL RETURN (Harper & Bros., 1959). Translated by Willard R. Trask.

* THE FORBIDDEN FOREST: A Novel (University of Notre Dame Press, 1978). Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts and Mary Park Stevenson.

* THE FORGE AND THE CRUCIBLE: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy (University of Chicago Press, 1978). Second edition. Translated by Stephen Corrin.

* IMAGES AND SYMBOLS: Studies in Religious Symbolism (Sheed & Ward, 1961). Translated by Philip Mairet.

* MYTH AND REALITY (Harper & Row, 1963). Translated by Willard R. Trask.

* PATTERNS IN COMPARATIVE RELIGION (Sheed & Ward, 1958). Translated by Rosemary Sheed.

* THE PORTUGAL JOURNAL (SUNY, 2010). Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts.

* RITES AND SYMBOLS OF INITIATION: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth (Harper & Row, 1958). Translated by Willard R. Trask.

* THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE: The Nature of Religion (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1959). Translated by Willard R. Trask.

* TALES OF THE SACRED AND THE SUPERNATURAL (Westminster Press, 1981).

* YOGA: Immortality and Freedom (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958). Translated by Willard R. Trask.

* YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (University of Chicago Press, 2007). Translated by Mac Linscott Ricketts.