Two Strange Tales

I consider this book to be a rare little serendipitous gem. I had no idea that such an important scholar of comparative religion as Eliade wrote fiction. Nor was his writing of literature fantastique simply a hobby, a diversion from his more serious pursuits. In the introduction that he wrote himself for this edition he states that some things are best expressed by incorporating them into a narrative. There are some nonordinary states whose subtle character can only be understood by experiencing them, or at least vicariously experiencing them by identification with the characters in a work of fiction. Both stories in this book deal with the transcendence of the ordinary perception of space and time. In the first, three Europeans in colonial India find themselves involuntarily drawn through time by the operations of another. The second is the account of a scholar who learned to transcend time and space through the study of yoga- following the path of another learned doctor who went before him. Both tales weave a most believable atmosphere, but this is understandable given that many of the characters and concepts are rooted in historical fact. At no time do you feel that this book was written simply to be sensational for its own sake, in order to make a dollar. You come away from a book like this either questioning whether anything in the ordinary world is real, or perhaps confirmed in your own personal experiences about the nature of "reality." "I have always divided people into two categories: those who understand death as an end to life and the body, and those who conceive it as the beginning of a new, spiritual existence. And I never form an opinion of any man I meet until I have learned his honest belief about death. Otherwise I might be deceived by high intelligence and dazzling charm."

I have read several of Eliade's books on religion, and I was surprised that he wrote fiction. Both stories are great, and they play upon themes covered in his scholarly works, e.g., sacred time and space. His academic works can be difficult to fully understand, the fiction helps to clarify and give new dimensions to his scholarly themes. If you are not familiar with his other works--that is not a problem (and perhaps a positive) because you will not be deflected from the quality of the fiction itself (which is superb). If you like a pre WWII fantastic/fantasy style, you will find Two Tales to be a fast and enjoyable read.

This book contains two extraordinarily vivid and dramatic stories. The first one, "Night at Serampore", describes an episode (probably containing some amount of autobiographical experience) involving some strange kind of time travel or "fall into the past" whereby one night while staying as a guest in an old rural indian mansion the main protagonist becomes in most misterious circumstances an involuntary witness to long past events. This extraordinary experience could seemingly be due, as the story tends to suggest, to the influence of advanced tantric meditators who presumably had been involved that same night in some kind of secret powerful yogic-tantric rituals in a nearby area... The second story, "The Secret of Dr. Honigsberger" is based on a real character, an indologist scholar who dissappeared in somewhat mysterious circumstances quite a long time ago. Eliade takes this fact as a starting point for a most thrilling story narrating the experience of a student that is called by Dr. Honigsberger's widow in order to review and order the personal notes and papers left by her late husband in the hope of finding some clues regarding his dissapearance. The facts given by the story indicate that the dissapearance had taken place quite some time ago in the scholar's own house and in unexplainable circumstances. ...The rest is a masterful narration of a most exciting investigation dealing with occult yogic practices in a haunting environment... As to the real Dr. Honigsberger, there are some hints about this most curious event in a book containing a long interview to Eliade whose exact title in the english version I can't recall but that probably goes as "The Test of the Labyrinth",...or something close to this.It is important to note that both stories contain serious and authoritative information and details concerning yogic practices. After all, we must keep in mind that Mircea Eliade was a top world authority in the History of Religions and a most knowledgeable expert in Indian Religion. Must be read by those who search for the mysterious and extraordinary,...and for good and well documented literature as well.

Probably one of the best books I've read. The two stories are in the pre-war tradition of fantastical literature, along the lines of THE STRANGE LIFE OF IVAN OSOKIN, by P. D. Ouspensky, and THE MASTER OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, by Leo Perutz. To be honest, I read the book about 10 years ago, so I can only write in general terms. The first tale, "Nights at Serampore," set in and around the town of Serampore, India, in the 1930s, describes the unsettling and life-changing experiences of a European student while visiting a friend in an isolated forest near the town. After encountering his University professor, a reputed magician, mysteriously wandering along the road at night, he sees and hears things that ordinarily would be considered impossible. These experiences teach him a lesson in Hindu mysticism and magic (as well as the possible true nature of existence) that leave an indelible stamp on his memory.The other tale, whose title now escapes me, addresses a similar subject -- the notion that things are not what they seem, that there is another reality beyond the pale of what we usually consider "normal." It describes the experience of a young man, a student of the occult, if I remember correctly, who gains access to a vast library of occult books, formerly owned by a doctor who had spent time traveling and studying in China before he mysteriously disappeared. In the course of his research the young man stumbles across the doctor's journal; after reading a chilling account of the doctor's experiments with Oriental occultism and of his seemingly impossible fate, the young man learns more about the power of magic than he wished to know. In this age of excessive materialism and forced pragmatism, these TWO STRANGE TALES are heartily recommended.