MTU Library Catalogue

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The forge and the crucible / Mircea Eliade, translated from the French by Stephen Corrin.

By: Eliade, Mircea, 1907-1986.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1978Description: 238 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. + pbk.ISBN: 0226203905.Subject(s): Metals -- Religious aspects | Alchemy | Metals -- MiscellaneaDDC classification: 540.1
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
General lending MTU Crawford College of Art and Design Library Lending 540.1 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Checked out 24/01/2022 00058862
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Primitive man's discovery of the ability to change matter from one state to another brought about a profound change in spiritual behavior. In The Forge and the Crucible, Mircea Eliade follows the ritualistic adventures of these ancient societies, adventures rooted in the people's awareness of an awesome new power.

The new edition of The Forge and the Crucible contains an updated appendix, in which Eliade lists works on Chinese alchemy published in the past few years. He also discusses the importance of alchemy in Newton's scientific evolution.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Translation of Forgerons et alchimistes.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Foreword
  • Preface to the Phoenix Edition
  • 1 Meteorites and Metallurgy
  • 2 Mythology of the Iron Age
  • 3 The World Sexualized
  • 4 Terra Mater. Petra Genitrix
  • 5 Rites and Mysteries in Metallurgy
  • 6 Human Sacrifices to the Furnace
  • 7 Babylonian Symbolisms and Metallurgical Rituals
  • 8 'Masters of Fire'
  • 9 Divine Smiths and Civilizing Heroes
  • 10 Smiths, Warriors, Masters of Initiation
  • 11 Chinese Alchemy
  • 12 Indian Alchemy
  • 13 Alchemy and Initiation
  • 14 Arcana Artis
  • 15 Alchemy and Temporality Postscript
  • Appendices
  • Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Born in Bucharest, Rumania, Mircea Eliade studied at the University of Bucharest and, from 1928 to 1932, at the University of Calcutta with Surendranath Dasgupta. After taking his doctorate in 1933 with a dissertation on yoga, he taught at the University of Bucharest and, after the war, at the Sorbonne in Paris.

From 1957, Eliade was a professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago. He was at the same time a writer of fiction, known and appreciated especially in Western Europe, where several of his novels and volumes of short stories appeared in French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. Two Tales of the Occult "to relate some yogic techniques, and particularly yogic folklore, to a series of events narrated in the genre of a mystery story." Both Nights of Serampore and The Secret of Dr. Honigberger evoke the mythical geography and time of India. Mythology, fantasy, and autobiography are skillfully combined in Eliade's tales.

(Bowker Author Biography)