Editing Mircea Eliade (section)

==== ''Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent'' ====
In his earliest novel, titled ''[[Romanul Adolescentului Miop|Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent]]'' and written in the first person, Eliade depicts his experience through high school.<ref name="ihincep" /> It is proof of the influence exercised on him by the literature of [[Giovanni Papini]], and in particular by Papini's story ''[[Un uomo finito]]''.<ref name="ihincep" /> Each of its chapters reads like an independent novella, and, in all, the work experiments with the limits traced between novel and diary.<ref name="ihincep" /> Literary critic [[Eugen Simion]] called it "the most valuable" among Eliade's earliest literary attempts, but noted that, being "ambitious", the book had failed to achieve "an aesthetically satisfactory format".<ref name="ihincep" /> According to Simion, the innovative intent of the ''Novel...'' was provided by its technique, by its goal of providing authenticity in depicting experiences, and by its insight into [[adolescent psychology]].<ref name="ihincep" /> The novel notably shows its narrator practicing [[self-flagellation]].<ref name="ihincep" />