THE TRANSCENDENCE OF HISTORICAL TIME IN”LES TROIS GRÂCES” AND ”YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH...”
THE TRANSCENDENCE OF HISTORICAL TIME IN”LES TROIS GRÂCES” AND ”YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH...”

Summary/Abstract: In the novellas Les trois grâces and Youth without Youth..., Mircea Eliade transposes into the epic scheme an original vision on immortality and youth; the author starts from the idea that, in illo tempore, the man was pure, unconstrained by the vicissitudes of life, eternally young, but once having been banished from heaven, the attributes of immortality have disappeared and so has the human being's ability to have an eternal life. The theme of political police, present in all aspects of everyday life, appears in order to depict the brutal intrusion of the Security, even in the case of discoveries that could change the fate of mankind. Although apparently there is no way to escape, the author seems to believe the solution might be found in the magical power of poetry. The activity of the political police in 1938, depicted in the novella Youth without Youth... is edifying in terms of the terror experienced in that period by Mircea Eliade, who was hiding from the authorities in the hope that he wouldn’t be arrested. In fact, there are many similarities between Dominic's story and the author's biography. Mircea Eliade lives a youth that is not youth, dedicated exclusively to study; the Indian experience might be considered the equivalent of the lightning that would change Dominic's destiny and the celebrity the latter has gained through his published work is similar to that of Mircea Eliade after the publication of the novel Bengal Nights.

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