Mircea Eliade was born in Bucharest in 1907. With a degree in Philosophy from the University of his hometown, he went to India in 1928 to study Eastern philosophy. He returned to his country in 1932, was a professor at the Bucharestian University and the central figure of the so-called "young generation" to which Cioran and Ionesco also belonged. He made his debut in literature at the age of fourteen and his literary production includes the short story, the novel, the essay, the memorial and the monumental History of Religions in several volumes. During World War II he was a cultural advisor to the Romanian Legation in London and, later, in Lisbon. After the war, he settled in Paris and in 1956 he moved to Chicago in whose University he taught History of Religions until his death in that city in 1986.