THE GAME OF EROS AND THANATOS IN MIRCEA ELIADE’S NOVEL THE SERPENT
THE GAME OF EROS AND THANATOS IN MIRCEA ELIADE’S NOVEL THE SERPENT

Summary/Abstract: Following his deep interest in the study of religions and mythology, Romanian philosopher Mircea Eliade develops in his works an amazing fresco of myths propagated by various peoples, but he does not limit himself to a purely theoretical approach, and goes even further, to their practical insertion in his own literary creations. The novel ‘The Serpent’, the one that the author himself claims to be the only book written without a plan and a mere product of imagination, reveals the eternal, vivid and life-giving core of the myth, standing right in the middle of everyday life. Acting just like a mask, a palpable shroud of more profound spiritual meanings, life is – as Eliade shows us – a unique experience, repeatable in various configurations, until the destiny established by superior forces reaches its fulfilment. The way Eliade depicts this particular fact is, however, a rather positive one – cyclicity represents a sequence of chances to understand and apply the principles under which Fatum itself works. With each new “experience” we are, in fact, one step closer to perfection and to the restoration of our androgyne primordial state.

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