Eliade, Mircea [further Considerations] | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Eliade, Mircea [further Considerations]

ELIADE, MIRCEA [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]. Since his death in 1986 Eliade's status has been problematic and the value of his contribution to the academic study of religion has been widely debated. His presence in the English-speaking academic world has diminished since the 1980s. Use of his work in graduate courses has declined, and there has been no repetition of the large-scale conferences on his views such as those held in connection with Carrasco and Swanberg's Waiting for the Dawn or Ricketts and Girardot's Imagination and Meaning. In the 1990s considerations of his contributions were rare at American Academy of Religion Conferences, and more interest in Eliade's literature was shown by the Modern Language Association, perhaps confirming Eliade's feeling that it would be mainly for his fiction that he would be remembered. However, most of his books remain in print and continue to sell strongly to the popular reader and to academic readers elsewhere in the world.

Despite the defense of his work mounted by some writers, criticism of his thought has been consistent and influential. Beyond the scholarly debate over the academic value of his analytic categories and theoretical approach, a wealth of historical material has become available, the implications of which have also been debated.

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