Ioan P. Culianu

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Ioan Petru Culianu or Couliano (January 5, 1950–May 21, 1991) was a Romanian historian of religion, culture, ideas, philosopher, political essayist, and short story writer. He was for long a professor of divinity at the University of Chicago and he also taught the history of Romanian culture at the University of Groningen. An expert in gnosticism and Renaissance magic, he was a collaborator and disciple of Mircea Eliade, though he gradually distanced from his mentor. Culianu published seminal works on the links between the occult, Eros, magic, physics, and history; they notably drew criticism that his thought was connected with New Age ideas.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Career

Born in Iaşi, he studied at the University of Bucharest, then traveled to Italy (asking for political asylum while attending lectures in Perugia in July 1972, and later graduating from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan).[2] He lived in France and the Netherlands, before he left for Chicago, in the United States, where, after a stint as a visiting professor, he ultimately became a professor at the University of Chicago. He took a Doctorate at the University of Paris IV in January 1987, with the thesis Recherches sur les dualismes d'Occident. Analyse de leurs principaux mythes ("Research into Western Dualisms. An Analysis of their Major Myths"), coordinated by Michel Meslin.

Having completed three doctorates and being proficient in six languages, Culianu specialized in Renaissance magic and mysticism (becoming a disciple, and literary executor, of Mircea Eliade, a famous historian of religions), but he also wrote fiction and political articles.

Culianu never married, but at the time of his death was engaged to Hillary Wiesner, a 27-year-old graduate divinity student at Harvard University.

[edit] Death

Culianu was murdered in the bathroom of the Divinity School, Swift Hall, of the University of Chicago, being shot once in the back of the head. The identity of the killer and the motive are still unknown.

Speculation arose that he had been killed by former Securitate agents, due to political articles in which he attacked the Communist regime — however, the murder occurred a year and a half after the Romanian Revolution and Nicolae Ceauşescu's death.

Before being killed, he had published a number of articles and interviews that heavily criticized the Ion Iliescu post-Revolution regime, making Culianu one of the government's most vocal adversaries. Several theories link his murder with Romanian Intelligence, seen by many as a direct successor to the Securitate[3] (several files of his Securitate files are missing without reason); Culianu had allegedly been threatened by previous anonymous phone calls.[4]

An ultra-nationalist and neo-fascist involvement, seen as part of an Iron Guard revival, in connection on the nationalist discourse of the late years of Ceauşescu's rule and the rise of the Vatra Românească and România Mare parties, was not itself excluded from the scenario;[5] according to Vladimir Tismăneanu: "[Culianu] gave the most devastating indictment of the new union of far left and far right in Romania".[6] Notably, as part of his criticism of the Iron Guard, Culianu had come to expose Mircea Eliade's connections with the latter movement during the interwar years (because of this, relations between the two academics had soured for the final years of Eliade's life).[7]

There are also various claims that Culianu was killed by an occult grouping, as well as views that his murder was simply caused by his presence in "a bad neighborhood".[8]

[edit] Works

[edit] Scholarly works

  • Mircea Eliade, Assisi, Cittadella Editrice, 1978; Mircea Eliade, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1995, 1998(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2004(3)
  • Iter in Silvis: Saggi scelti sulla gnosi e altri studi, Gnosis, no. 2, Messina, EDAS, 1981
  • Religione e accrescimento del potere, in G. Romanato, M. Lombardo, I.P. Culianu, Religione e potere, Torino, Marietti, 1981
  • Psychanodia: A Survey of the Evidence Concerning the Ascension of the Soul and Its Relevance, Leiden, Brill, 1983
  • Eros et magie a la Renaissance. 1484, Paris, Flammarion, 1984
  • Expériences de l'extase: Extase, ascension et récit visionnaire de l'hellénisme au Moyen Age, Paris, Payot, 1984; Experienze dell'estasi dall'Ellenismo al Medioevo, Bari, Laterza, 1986
  • Gnosticismo e pensiero moderno: Hans Jonas, Roma, L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1985
  • Éros et Magie à la Renaissance. 1484, Paris, Flammarion, 1984; Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1987; Eros e magia nel Rinascimento: La congiunzione astrologica del 1484, Milano, Il Saggiatore - A. Mondadori, 1987; Eros şi magie în Renaştere. 1484, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1994, 1999(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2003(3); Eros y magia en el Renacimiento. 1484, Madrid, Ediciones Siruela, 1999
  • Recherches sur les dualismes d'Occident: Analyse de leurs principaux mythes, Lille, Lille-Thèses, 1986; I miti dei dualismi occidentali, Milano, Jaca Book, 1989
  • Les Gnoses dualistes d'Occident: Histoire et mythes, Paris, Plon, 1990; Gnozele dualiste ale Occidentului. Istorie si mituri, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1995; Iaşi, Polirom, 2002(2)
  • Out of this World: Otherworldly Journeys from Gilgamesh to Albert Einstein, Boston, Shambhala, 1991; Mas alla de este mundo, Barcelona, Paidos Orientalia, 1993; Călătorii in lumea de dincolo, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1994, 1999(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2003(3); Jenseits dieser Welt, Munchen, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, 1995
  • I viaggi dell'anima, Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1991
  • The Tree of Gnosis : Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism, San Francisco, HarperCollins, 1992; Arborele gnozei. Mitologia gnostică de la creştinismul timpuriu la nihilismul modern, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1999
  • Experiences del extasis, Barcelona, Paidos Orientalia, 1994; Experienţe ale extazului, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1997; Iaşi, Polirom, 2004(2)
  • Religie şi putere, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1996
  • Psihanodia, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1997
  • Păcatul împotriva spiritului. Scrieri politice, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1999
  • Studii româneşti I. Fantasmele nihilismului. Secretul Doctorului Eliade, Bucureşti, Nemira, 2000
  • Jocurile minţii. Istoria ideilor, teoria culturii, epistemologie, Iaşi, Polirom, 2002
  • Iocari serio. Ştiinţa şi arta în gîndirea Renaşterii, Iaşi, Polirom, 2003
  • Cult, magie, erezii. Articole din enciclopedii ale religiilor, Iaşi, Polirom, 2003

[edit] Co-author

  • With Mircea Eliade and H. S. Wiesner: Dictionnaire des Religions, Avec la collaboration de H.S. Wiesner. Paris, Plon, 1990, 1992(2); The Eliade Guide to World Religions, Harper, San Francisco, 1991 ; Handbuch der Religionen, Zurich und Munchen, Artemis Winkler Verlag, 1991; Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, 1995; Diccionario de las religiones Barcelona, Paidos Orientalia, 1993; Dicţionarul religiilor, Bucureşti, Humanitas, 1993, 1996(2)
  • The Encyclopedia of Religion, Collier Macmillan, New York, 1987
  • The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religions, Harper, San Francisco, 2000

[edit] Fiction

  • La collezione di smeraldi. Racconti, Milano, Jaca Book, 1989
  • Hesperus, Bucureşti, Univers, 1992; Bucureşti, Nemira, 1998(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2003(3)
  • Pergamentul diafan. Povestiri, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1994
  • Pergamentul diafan. Ultimele povestiri, Bucureşti, Nemira, 1996(2); Iaşi, Polirom, 2002(3)
  • Arta fugii. Povestiri, Iaşi, Polirom, 2002
  • Jocul de smarald, Iaşi, Polirom, 2005

[edit] Other

  • Dialoguri întrerupte. Corespondenţa Mircea Eliade - Ioan Petru Culianu, Iaşi, Polirom, 2004

[edit] Critical works about Culianu

A biography and an analysis of his death was published by Ted Anton under the title Eros, Magic, and the Death of Professor Culianu (alluding to Culianu's most influential work, Eros and Magic in the Renaissance). See also Sorin Antohi (ed.), Religion, Fiction, and History. Essays in Memory of Ioan Petru Culianu, Volumes I-II, Bucharest, Nemira, 2001; and Sorin Antohi (coordinator), Ioan Petru Culianu. Omul şi opera, Iaşi, Polirom, 2003.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Anton
  2. ^ Anton
  3. ^ Anton; Savin
  4. ^ Anton
  5. ^ Antohi; Savin; Tismăneanu, "Cei pe care..."
  6. ^ Tismăneanu, in Anton
  7. ^ Antohi; Anton
  8. ^ Greg Spinner, in Anton

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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