Reflections on profane and sacred time in the novel Forbidden Forest by Mircea Eliade

Abstract

One of the existential anxieties met in the novel The Forbidden Forest by Mircea Eliade is that of time. The characters of the novel become carriers of messages, and the place of their action becomes a real labyrinth under the division between the sacred and the profane. ?tefan Viziru's belief that historical events conceal profound spiritual significances refers to a period in the author's life, the period of his European exile, an initiation quest, an attempt to decode the lines of his destiny. Through interpreting some contemporary national events, one can discover in Mircea Eliade's novel new symbolic meanings, a philosophy of the relationship between personal destiny and the history of the Romanian people. Through the complexity of its theme and its obsessive quest for the sacred in a modern desacralized world, the novel becomes a challenge. It helps us find answers related to the meaning of human existence.