The mythologist Georges Dumézil and the historian of religions Mircea Eliade had a long-term correspondence and several of their letters have been published. They met during the Second World War, and when Eliade’s links to the Iron Guard meant he could not return to Communist Romania, Dumézil provided a lot of support to him. Eliade spent almost a decade in Paris before relocating to the University of Chicago. The story of that decade, and Dumézil’s support is something I hope to discuss in detail elsewhere. What is here are simply the documentary traces of which I am aware.

Eliade had good French and they corresponded in that language. Most of the published letters are in French, but a few letters have been translated into Romanian and the French remains unpublished. Many more have not been transcribed. Eliade seems to have kept more of Dumézil’s letters than Dumézil did of Eliade’s, though it’s possible there are others elsewhere in his archives – some letters were filed by year with Dumézil’s courses or book manuscripts instead of by correspondent. One postcard from Dumézil quoted by Florin Țurcanu in his biography of Eliade has not been found – his archival reference is to an old version of the Eliade archive, and the postcard is not in the new folders of correspondence from Dumézil.

The list below was made for my research use, but perhaps someone else will find it helpful. A few years are inferred from context. The published letters are in French unless otherwise noted. Many thanks to Alin Constantine for his help in locating some of these letters, especially in Romanian sources, and to the archivists of the Collège de France and Hanna Holborn Gray special collections, University of Chicago.

I’ll try to follow up with a listing of the Foucault-Dumézil letters in a future post.

Published Sources

Mircea Eliade, Europa Asia America… Corespondenta, ed. Mircea Handoca, Bucuresti: Humanitas, three volumes, 1999-2004. The volumes are divided as A-H; I-P; R-Z – Dumézil’s letters are in the supplementary part of the in the third.

Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, ed. Mircea Handoca, Bucuresti: Minerva, five volumes, 2006. The volumes are divided as A-E; F-J; K-P; R-S; Ș-V – Dumézil’s letters are in Volume I and V.

Florin Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil: «une amitié dans la liberté»”, Historia Religionum: An International Journal 5, 2013, 109-33.

Archival Abbreviations

DMZ    Fonds Georges Dumézil, Collège de France

ME       Mircea Eliade papers, Hanna Holborn Gray special collections, University of Chicago

Letters

Eliade to Dumézil, 4 January 1947 [Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 534-35]

Eliade to Dumézil, 24 January 1947, with five pages of comments on Mitra-Varuna [in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]

Eliade to Dumézil, 2 April 1951 [in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]

Eliade and others to Dumézil, 25 Aug 1951 [in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 2 March 1952 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol I, 265-66]

Dumézil to Eliade, 17 March 1952 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol I, 266; in ME, box 81, folder 26]

Eliade to Dumézil, 5 April 1957 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 124-25; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 536-38; in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 9 May 1958 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 125-26]

Eliade to Dumézil, 10 December 1958 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 126-27; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 538-40; in DMZ 75.21, Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 30 December 1958 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil, 21 April 1959 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 26 April 1959 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 15 January 1961 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 127-28; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil 25 March 1962 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 17 June 1965 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil, 9 December 1966 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 128-29; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 540-41; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 12 February 1967 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 338-39; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 28 June 1967 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 129; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 20 November 1967 [in ME, box 81, folder 26]

Dumézil to Eliade, 7 April 1968 [draft in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Eliade to Dumézil, 8 July 1968 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 130; Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 541-42; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 13 July 1968 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 7 December 1968 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 130-31; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil, 27 December 1968 [Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 542-43; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Eliade to Dumézil, 19 January 1969 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 22 January 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 5 March 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 2 May 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1; draft in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Eliade to Dumézil, 19 May 1969 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 131; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 22 May 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 339-40; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 24 May 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 340-41; in ME, box 82, folder 1; draft in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 4 June 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 341; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil 6 June 1969 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 13 June 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1; draft 13 June and 14 June in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 30 June 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil, 12 July 1969 [Romanian in Corespondenta R-Z, 543-44; in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 15 July 1969 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 341-42; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 22 July 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 24 Dec 1969 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 21 March 1970 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 131-32; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, Christmas 1970 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 342-43; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 5 February 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 6 March 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 9 [March 1971, from Los Angeles] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 29 March [1971, from Los Angeles] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 17 April 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil, 16 June 1971 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 30 April 1971 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 343-44; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 17 June 1971 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 344; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 24 June 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 28 July 1971 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 344-45; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 15 December 1971 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 18 May 1973 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 16 December 1973 [quoted in Florin Ţurcanu, Mircea Eliade: Le prisonnier de l’histoire, Paris: Éditions de la Découverte, 2003, 351.]

Dumézil to Eliade, 4 January 1975 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 28 December 1975 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Eliade to Dumézil, 5 June 1977 [in DMZ 75.21 Mircea Eliade]

Dumézil to Eliade, 25 December 1977 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 23 April 1978 [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, New Year, 1979 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 345-47; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 1 October 1979 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 347-48; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 29 December 1979 [in Mircea Eliade şi corespondenții sǎi, Vol V, 348; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 2 March 1982 [in ME, box 81, folder 26]

Dumézil to Eliade, 1 April 1982 [in Țurcanu, “Mircea Eliade and Georges Dumézil”, 132; in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Undated Letters

Dumézil to Eliade, 20 August [no year] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 23 September [no year] [in ME, box 82, folder 1]

Dumézil to Eliade, 31 March [no year: 1971?] [in ME, box 94, folder 7]

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Although more of a research resource than a history, this is the 81st post of a weekly series, posted every Sunday throughout 2025, and continuing into a second year. The posts are short essays with indications of further reading and sources. They are not as formal as something I’d try to publish more conventionally, but are hopefully worthwhile as short sketches of histories and ideas. They are usually tangential to my main writing focus, a home for spare parts, asides, dead-ends and possible futures. I hope there is some interest in them. They are provisional and suggestions are welcome. A few, usually shorter, pieces in a similar style have been posted mid-week. I’m not sure I’ll keep to a weekly rhythm throughout 2026, but there will be at least a few more pieces.

The full chronological list of ‘Sunday histories’ is here, with a thematic ordering here.