Two Strange Tales"No event in our world is real, my friend. Everything that occurs in this universe is illusory... And in a world of appearances, in which no thing and no event has any permanence, any reality of its own--whoever is master of certain forces can do anything he wishes..." So speaks a character in Two Strange Tales, a pair of novellas in which Westerners are caught up in the uncanny realm of Eastern religion and magic. In "Nights at Serampore," three European scholars, traveling deep into the forests of Bengal, are inexplicably cast into another time and space where they witness the violent murder of a young Hindu wife. In "The Secret of Dr. Honingberger," a respectable Rumanian physician vanishes without a trace after experimenting with yogic techniques in his quest for the legendary invisible world called Shambhala. In Two Strange Tales, author Mircea Eliade combined yogic folklore with the literary genre of the supernatural suspense tale so as to reveal dimensions of experience that are inaccessible to other intellectual approaches. These well-crafted stories will appeal to both lovers of the supernatural and those fascinated by mysticism of the East. Mircea Eliade (1907-1986), a native of Rumania, was a leading scholar of religion, widely known for his writings on the history of religion, the structure of myth, and spiritual symbolism, including Shamanism, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, and A History of Religious Ideas. He also wrote autobiographical works as well as numerous stories, novels, and plays. Fiction offered him a unique complementary way to explore some of the themes of his scholarly work, such as sacred time and space. Publishers' note. |
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able amazement asked began believe Bengal biography body Bogdanof Brashov breathing Budge Calcutta Chatterji chauffeur cigarette consciousness continued desk difficult disappeared everything experience eye of Shiva eyes fact feeling felt forest friends happened heard Honigberger Honigberger's housemaid husband India Indology integrated thought interrupted invisible jungle knew later leave Lila literary littérature fantastique longer looked Manen meditation mind Mircea Eliade mysteries never night Nīlāmvara Dāsa notebook occult once perhaps realize ritual road Rumanian samyama Sanskrit secret seemed Serampore servants Shambala sleep Smaranda smile someone soon speak spent stopped story strange suddenly Suren Bose Swami Shivananda Tantra tantric tell texts things thought tion Titagarh told took translation Transylvanian doctor trees trying turned understand Van Manen waking walk wandering whispered words write yoga yogic Zerlendi