Mircea Eliade vs. Honoré de Balzac
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
Mircea Eliade
1907 – 1986
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and interpreter of religious experience, he established paradigms in religious studies. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proved influential. One of his most instrumental contributions to religious studies was his theory of eternal return, which holds that myths and rituals do not simply commemorate hierophanies, but actually participate in them.
"For the past fifty years at least, Western scholars have approached the study of myth from a viewpoint markedly different from, let us say, that of the nineteen…"
Honoré de Balzac
1799 – 1850
French novelist and playwright who was a leading figure of 19th-century literary realism; he is best known for the vast series La Comédie Humaine and for essays such as Physiologie du mariage which examine social institutions like marriage.
"Nature knows nothing but solid bodies; your science deals only with combinations of surfaces. And so nature constantly gives the lie to all your laws; can you n…"
Connections
Both wrote about: