Gangleri – bookreviews

mythe et épopée, vol 2: types épiques indo-européens: un héros, un sorcier, un roi
Well this is a Dumézil book! Mostly based on the stories of Yayati and Madhavi, Dumézil writes about sacred kings, perpetual virgins and makes a great many cross references between different mythologies. The basis lays in the Indian and Iranian mythologies, but there are chapters about Celtic mythology and especially towards the end, references to Northern European… continue reading The Destiny Of A King * Georges Dumézil (1973 the university of chicage press * isbn 0226169758)

I am a bit disappointed by this book by Eliade. The title would have better been “history and meaning in religionswissenschaft”. The field that Eliade operated in he prefered to give the German term religionswissenschaft. This term he usually gives the (not too good) translation “history of religion” or sometimes (somewhat better) “comperative religion”. The book proves to be a history and investigation of the value of this science and… continue reading The Quest: history and meaning in religion * Mircea Eliade (1969/ 1984 midway reprint * isbn 0226203867)

There were mainly two reasons for me to buy this book, first “with contributions by Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade” and the price of $ 11,70. The Universal Myths is a book with mythology of all over the world and given by theme. This brings magnificent similarities between myths as far apart as far Eastern with “Amerindian” or Babylonian with Northern. Very nice indeed! What is less nice, is that… continue reading The Universal Myths * Alexander Eliot (1976 myths / 1990 meridian * isbn 0452010276)

Dumézil first wrote this book in his native language (French) and 10 years later completely rewrote the book for a German version. The French version still seems to be in print (or at least, recently was). I got a nice German version. I can read French, but only if there is no other option. German goes a lot better, but I still had a hard time reading this book, especially… continue reading Loki * Georges Dumézil (1948 / 1959 wissenschaftliche buchgesellschaft)

Another compilation of texts by A.K. Coomaraswamy compiled and introduced by his son Rama Coomaraswamy. This time “on myth and meaning”. Like in the other book there are very interesting articles and articles which are just a nice read. Coomaraswamy tends to write too lengthy and treading too many sidepaths sometimes. The introduction by Rama Coomaraswamy is again a nice one. Also the opening article “Myth And Mind” is magnificent… continue reading The Door In The Sky * Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1997 princeton university press * isbn 0691017476)

Odd. Will-Erich Peuckert is largely unknown to people interested in western esotericism. His books which were published halfway the previous century are immense, but mostly out of print and have never been available in another language than German. Still scholars from the continent seem to use Peuckert as source of information more and more. So far this has only resulted in a cheap version of the book Geheimkulte which is… continue reading Geheimkulte * Will-Erich Peuckert (isbn 393320366X)

le roi du monde 1927
This is one of the earlier books by Guénon and a thin one too. Only just over 100 pages and I read it in not even two hours. This may be due to the fact that I read an unpublished Dutch translation, but also it seems to me that this book is written in a much easier style than for example The Reign Of Quanity &amp… continue reading The King Of The World * René Guénon (2004 sophia perennis * isbn 0900588543)

A book only for the Dutch-speaking among you, sorry.

“Van Anima Tot Zeus” is an encyclopedia for anyone interested in the subjects that you can find in these pages and more. 885 Pages, almost countless words and symbols varying from alchemy to psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, mythology, etc., etc. Even short biographies of persons, photos, images, explanations, cross-referances, etc., etc. Paging through the book learned me that is isn’t entirely all embracing… continue reading Van Anima Tot Zeus * Maarten Timmer (isbn 9056373528 * 2001)

symboles fondamentaux de la science sacrée 1961
This is a book that was published post-mortem, containing 75 articles in four different periodicals between the years 1926 and 1950. I ran into this book on the internet when I was writing an article and because yet another ‘Traditionalist clue’ came to me, an interest to deep into this current deeper was awoken within me. This book by Guénon is no easy read… continue reading Symbols Of Sacred Science * René Guénon (sophia perennis 2004 * isbn 0900588772)

la règne de la quantité et les signe des temps 1945
Guénon wrote a lot of books about a lot of subjects. The recently reviewed Symbols Of Sacred Science is regarded Guénon’s primary book about symbolism, The Reign Of Quantity is regarded his primary metaphysical book. Indeed, the first part of the book is very and very literary meta-physical, but the title of the book has two parts. The book speaks… continue reading The Reign Of Quantity & The Sign Of Times * René Guénon (sophia perennis 2004 * isbn 0900588675)