* Some see in Zalmoxis a Christ figure who dies and resurrects ; this position was also defended by Jean ( Ioan ) Coman, a professor of patristics and orthodox priest, who was a friend of Eliade and published in Eliade's journal " Zalmoxis ", which appeared in the 1930s.

Zalmoxis was a constant in Eliade's life.

As one of the figures in the Criterion literary society ( 1933 – 1934 ), Eliade's initial encounter with the traditional far right was polemical: the group's conferences were stormed by members of A. C. Cuza's National-Christian Defense League, who objected to what they viewed as pacifism and addressed antisemitic insults to several speakers, including Sebastian ; in 1933, he was among the signers of a manifesto opposing Nazi Germany's state-enforced racism.

Mariana Klein, who became Şora's wife, was one of Eliade's female students, and later authored works on his scholarship.

Eliade's articles before and after his adherence to the principles of the Iron Guard ( or, as it was usually known at the time, the Legionary Movement ), beginning with his famous Itinerar spiritual (" Spiritual Itinerary ", serialized in Cuvântul in 1927 ), center on several political ideals advocated by the far right.

The move was prompted by the officially sanctioned nationalism and Romania's claim to independence from the Eastern Bloc, as both phenomena came to see Eliade's prestige as an asset.

Păunescu's visit to Chicago was followed by those of the nationalist official writer Eugen Barbu and by Eliade's friend Constantin Noica ( who had since been released from jail ).

During his later years, Eliade's fascist past was progressively exposed publicly, the stress of which probably contributed to the decline of his health.

It was attended by 1, 200 people, and included a public reading of Eliade's text in which he recalled the epiphany of his childhood — the lecture was given by novelist Saul Bellow, Eliade's colleague at the University.

One of Eliade's noted contributions in this respect was the 1932 Soliloquii (" Soliloquies "), which explored existential philosophy.

In Ellwood's view, Eliade's nostalgia was only enhanced by his exile from Romania: " In later years Eliade felt about his own Romanian past as did primal folk about mythic time.

Anthropologist Alice Kehoe is highly critical of Eliade's work on Shamanism, namely because he was not an anthropologist but a historian.

The notion was in turn linked to Eliade's own thoughts on transcendence, and in particular his idea that, once " camouflaged " in life or history, miracles become " unrecognizable ".

" Şantier was also noted for its portrayal of drug addiction and intoxication with opium, both of which could have referred to Eliade's actual travel experience.

Eliade's fantasy novel Domnişoara Christina, was, on its own, the topic of a scandal.

Eliade's short story Şarpele (" The Snake ") was described by George Călinescu as " hermetic ".

Writing for the Spanish journal La Vanguardia, commentator Sergio Vila-Sanjuán described the first volume of Eliade's Autobiography ( covering the years 1907 to 1937 ) as " a great book ", while noting that the other main volume was " more conventional and insincere.

The same passages led philosopher and journalist Cătălin Avramescu to argue that Eliade's behavior was evidence of " megalomania ".

The depolitisation of Eliade after the start of his diplomatic career was also mistrusted by his former close friend Eugène Ionesco, who indicated that, upon the close of World War II, Eliade's personal beliefs as communicated to his friends amounted to " all is over now that Communism has won ".

In part, they also serve to illustrate or allude to Eliade's own research in the field of religion, as well as to the concepts he introduced.

" Literary historian Paul Cernat argued that part of the volume is " a masterpiece of its time ", while concluding that some 700 pages were passable for the " among others " section of Eliade's bibliography.

Mircea Eliade's nephew and commentator Sorin Alexandrescu himself proposed that Eliade's politics were essentially conservative and patriotic, in part motivated by a fear of the Soviet Union which he shared with many other young intellectuals.

As part of his criticism of the Iron Guard, Culianu had come to expose Mircea Eliade's connections with the latter movement during the interwar years ( because of this, relations between the two academics had soured for the final years of Eliade's life ).

" He suggests that this nostalgia, along with Eliade's sense that " exile is among the profoundest metaphors for all human life ", influenced Eliade's theories.

Moreover, the connection between mythology and politics differs for each of the mythologists in question: in Eliade's case, Ellwood believes, a strong sense of nostalgia (" for childhood, for historical times past, for cosmic religion, for paradise "), influenced not only the scholar's academic interests, but also his political views.

Eliade's views at the time focused on innovation — in the summer of 1933, he replied to an anti-modernist critique written by George Călinescu:

Eliade often uses the term " archetypes " to refer to the mythical models established by the Sacred, although Eliade's use of the term should be distinguished from the use of the term in Jungian psychology.

Dadosky quotes Robert Segal, a professor of religion, who draws a distinction between Platonism and Eliade's " primitive ontology ": for Eliade, the ideal models are patterns that a person or object may or may not imitate ; for Plato, there is a Form for everything, and everything imitates a Form by the very fact that it exists.

Allan himself stands alongside Eliade's male characters, whose focus is on action, sensation and experience — his chaste contacts with Maitreyi are encouraged by Sen, who hopes for a marriage which is nonetheless abhorred by his would-be European son-in-law.

In contrast with early renditions of the myth by authors such as Euripides and Jean Racine, Eliade's version ends with the sacrifice being carried out in full.

He explained the use of his signature, his picture, and the picture's caption, as having been applied by the magazine's editor, Mihail Polihroniade, to a piece the latter had written after having failed to obtain Eliade's contribution ; he also claimed that, given his respect for Polihroniade, he had not wished to publicize this matter previously.

Three years later, Eliade's political activities were brought into discussion as he was getting ready to publish a translation of his Techniques du Yoga with the left-leaning Italian company Giulio Einaudi Editore — the denunciation was probably orchestrated by Romanian officials.

In August 1954, when Horia Sima, who led the Iron Guard during its exile, was rejected by a faction inside the movement, Mircea Eliade's name was included on a list of persons who supported the latter — although this may have happened without his consent.

Alongside the arguments introduced by Daniel Dubuisson, criticism of Mircea Eliade's political involvement with antisemitism and fascism came from Adriana Berger, Leon Volovici, Alexandra Lagniel-Lavastine, Florin Ţurcanu and others, who have attempted to trace Eliade's antisemitism throughout his work and through his associations with contemporary antisemites, such as the Italian fascist occultist Julius Evola.

Reviewing the arguments brought in support of Eliade, Sergio Vila-Sanjuán concluded: " Nevertheless, Eliade's pro-Legionary columns endure in the newspaper libraries, he never showed his regret for this connection the Iron Guard and always, right up to his final writings, he invoked the figure of his teacher Nae Ionescu.

Robert Ellwood, a professor of religion who did his graduate studies under Mircea Eliade, saw this type of nostalgia as one of the most characteristic themes in Eliade's life and academic writings.

One of Eliade's earliest fiction writings, the controversial first-person narrative Isabel şi apele diavolului, focused on the figure of a young and brilliant academic, whose self-declared fear is that of " being common ".

Romanian scholar Mircea Handoca, editor of Eliade's writings, argues that the controversy surrounding Eliade was encouraged by a group of exiled writers, of whom Manea was a main representative, and believes that Eliade's association with the Guard was a conjectural one, determined by the young author's Christian values and conservative stance, as well as by his belief that a Legionary Romania could mirror Portugal's Estado Novo.

Cătălin Avramescu defined this conclusion as " whitewashing ", and, answering to Alexandrescu's claim that his uncle's support for the Guard was always superficial, argued that Jurnal portughez and other writings of the time showed Eliade's disenchantment with the Legionaries ' Christian stance in tandem with his growing sympathy for Nazism and its pagan messages.

*" The Legacy of a European Traditionalist: Julius Evola in Perspective " by Guido Stucco discusses Mircea Eliade's influence.

The critic pointed out that the addition of " a magical solution " to the options taken into consideration seemed to be Eliade's own original contributions to his mentor's philosophy, and proposed that it may have owed inspiration to Julius Evola and his disciples.