Rites and Symbols of Initiation [rare books]

Professor Eliade takes one particular subject, the almost universal prevalence in human culture of some form of initiatory rite and custom, and treats it in a way that is at once scholarly and interpretative. We find in his book not merely a collection of data but also a profound and insightful attempt to get, so to speak, under the skin of the data, and to discern the underlying meaning and purpose of initiation. The result is peculiarly satisfying both intellectually and spiritually. The longing for for a new mode of existence, a transfigura- tion of all that is, has many secular as well as religious expressions. Even com- munism shares it in its own way. Yet in fact the longing itself is always a religious one. The real substance of secular hope and culture is always some species of heavily disguised religion. Perhaps the most interesting portion of this book is the few closing pages on which Eliade discusses the way in which initiatory themes find expression in contemporary literature."-Religion in Life