The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History

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... Read Full Review

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... Read Full Review

I was inspired by the icredible insight and interesting acedemic thought in this book -- it's hard to beleive that it was written over fourty years ago. The struggle with "the terror of history" and the horror of linear time is something that many of us still struggle with today.As a student of literature, I found this book particularly helpful in studying the moderns, such as T.S. Eliot and James Joyce, who, as Eliade... Read Full Review

This little book has managed to influence all discussions about Time not only in religion, but also in psychology (see Norman O. Brown's "Life against Death"), the natural sciences(see Gould's "Time's Arrow"), literary criticism (see Camille Paglia) etc. Eliade's insights into Time are now so pervasive that it becomes de rigueur for this book to be read and relished not just by the scholars of religion, but also by those... Read Full Review