Mircea Eliade in Culianu’s ’’reading’’: religious hermeneutics and history (I)
Referring to the division of periods established by Horia-Roman Patapievici, it is observed, in the transition from ”young Culianu” to ”the last Culianu”, an obvious metamorphosis of his historical views as well as of the mission of the history of religions, a privileged discipline through which he will commence his external contemplations. This article aims to emphasize this precise stage of genuine thinking and the metamorphosis which, at the end, materializes a unique theory of the ”mind games.” The manner in which the disciple interprets the master’s (i.e. Mircea Eliade’s) work is revelatory for the field of ideas.
Keywords: history, religious hermeneutics, mind games, system, cognitivism, Mircea Eliade, Ioan Petru Culianu
(1) Horia-Roman Patapievici elaborates the theory of ’’the last Culianu” in an article initially appeared in Litere, Arte, Idei, a cultural suppliment for the Cotidianul newspaper (IV, nr. 27 (161), 18th July, 1994), which will subsequently be modified significantly. The article is specifically meant to be included in a volume coordinated by Sorin Antohi and entitled Ioan Petru Culianu. Omul şi opera (Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House, 2003, p. 618-639); afterwards, the article is entirely revised in order to become the nucleus of a book entitled Ultimul Culianu (Bucureşti, Humanitas Publishing House, 2010), in which the exegete suggests the following division, making reference to the years of the writing or rewriting of the paradigm-books from every stage: ”‹‹young Culianu›› (Iocari serio, 1979); ‹‹the first Culianu›› (Eros şi Magie în Renaştere, 1981); transition from ‹‹the first›› (Gnozele dualiste, 1986) to ‹‹the last Culianu›› (Arborele gnozei, 1990); ‹‹the last Culianu›› (Călătorii în lumea de dincolo, 1990; the articles in the Incognita magazine, 1089-1990; books projects, 1990-1991)” (annotation nr. 2/p. 8).
(2) Lucian Boia, Jocul cu trecutul: Istoria între adevăr şi ficţiune, 3rd Edition, Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 2008, p. 7.
(3) Mircea Eliade, Secolul istoriei, in Fragmentarium, Bucharest, HumanitasPublishing House, 1994, p. 127.
(4) Idem, Folclorul ca instrument de cunoaştere, in Insula lui Euthanasius, Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 1993, p. 39. Referring to the opinions stated in this article, Ioan Petru Culianu places his master in the „avangarde of the research of imagery.” (Ioan Petru Culianu, Mircea Eliade şi gândirea modernă despre iraţional, in Studii româneşti I. Fantasmele nihilismului. Secretul doctorului Eliade, 2nd Edition, Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House, 2006, p. 321.
(5) Horia-Roman Patapievici, Ultimul Culianu, ed. cit., p. 137.
(6) Ioan Petru Culianu, Iocari serio. Ştiinţă şi artă în Renaştere, Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House, 2003, p. 13.
(7) Ibid., 17-18.
(8) Horia-Roman Patapievici, op. cit., p. 123.
(9) Ioan Petru Culianu, Iocari serio, ed. cit., p. 9-10.
(10) Mircea Eliade, Sacrul şi profanul, 3rd Edition, Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 2007, p. 15.
(11) Ioan Petru Culianu, Mircea Eliade, 2nd Edition, Bucharest, Nemira Publishing House, 1998, p. 99.
(12) Mircea Eliade, Nostalgia originilor. Istorie şi semnificaţie în religie, Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 1994, p. 97.
(13) Ibid., p. 109.
(14) Ioan Petru Culianu, Studii româneşti I, ed. cit., p. 221; 243.
(15) Ibid., p. 247; 253.
(16) Ibid., p. 334.
(17) The letter is available in a volume coordinated by Sorin Antohi, Ioan Petru Culianu. Omul şi opera, ed. cit., p. 93.
