Editing Mircea Eliade (section)

===Political symbolism in Eliade's fiction===
{{Conservatism in the Western world|Intellectuals}}
Various critics have traced links between Eliade's fiction works and his political views, or Romanian politics in general. Early on, [[George Călinescu]] argued that the [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] model outlined in ''Huliganii'' was: "An allusion to certain bygone political movements [...], sublimated in the ever so abstruse philosophy of death as a path to knowledge."<ref name="Căl. p.959"/> By contrast, ''Întoarcerea din rai'' partly focuses on a failed [[Communism|communist]] rebellion, which enlists the participation of its main characters.<ref name="Căl. p.958"/>

''Iphigenia''‍'s story of self-sacrifice, turned voluntary in Eliade's version, was taken by various commentators, beginning with [[Mihail Sebastian]], as a favorable allusion to the Iron Guard's beliefs on commitment and death, as well as to the bloody outcome of the 1941 [[Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom|Legionary Rebellion]].<ref name="aoamniotica"/> Ten years after its premiere, the play was reprinted by Legionary refugees in Argentina: on the occasion, the text was reviewed for publishing by Eliade himself.<ref name="aoamniotica"/> Reading ''Iphigenia'' was what partly sparked Culianu's investigation of his mentor's early political affiliations.<ref name="aoamniotica"/>

A special debate was sparked by ''Un om mare''. Culianu viewed it as a direct reference to [[Corneliu Zelea Codreanu]] and his rise in popularity, an interpretation partly based on the similarity between, on one hand, two monikers ascribed to the Legionary leader (by, respectively, his adversaries and his followers), and, on the other, the main character's name (''Cucoanes'').<ref name="milaffaireii"/> [[Matei Călinescu]] did not reject Culianu's version, but argued that, on its own, the piece was beyond political interpretations.<ref name="milaffaireii"/> Commenting on this dialog, literary historian and essayist [[Mircea Iorgulescu]] objected to the original verdict, indicating his belief that there was no historical evidence to substantiate Culianu's point of view.<ref name="milaffaireii"/>

Alongside Eliade's main works, his attempted novel of youth, ''Minunata călătorie a celor cinci cărăbuși in țara furnicilor roșii'', which depicts a population of red ants living in a totalitarian society and forming bands to harass the beetles, was seen as a potential allusion to the [[Soviet Union]] and to communism.<ref name="ihincep"/> Despite Eliade's ultimate reception in [[Communist Romania]], this writing could not be published during the period, after [[Censorship|censors]] singled out fragments which they saw as especially problematic.<ref name="ihincep"/>