Born in Bucharest, Rumania, Eliade studied at the Univ. of Bucharest & at the Univ. of Calcutta with Surendranath Dasgupta. After taking a doctorate in 1933 with a dissertation on yoga, he taught at the Univ. of Bucharest &, after the war, at the Sorbonne in Paris. From '57, he was professor of the history of religions at the Univ. of Chicago. He was at the same time a writer of fiction, appreciated especially in Western Europe, where several of his novels & volumes of short stories appeared in French, German, Spanish & Portuguese. This book is made up of the first two chapters (Part 1) of his From Primitives to Zen: A Thematic Sourcebook of the History of Religions (1967). In his typical fashion, Eliade here has created a well organized sourcebook for the study of comparative mythology & religion. The book is organized by section & includes summaries from various scholars or translations of important mythic texts. Among others, you will find here portions of the Avestas, portions of the Rig Veda & the Uppanishads, various myths of creation from around the world etc. Additionally Homeric hymns, works by Hesiod & even parts of the Koran are included.—Christopher R. Travers