Generation "Without Beliefs" and the Idea of Experience in Romania (1927-1934), A

In 1927, the young Romanian student and journalist Mircea Eliade encouraged his fellowyoung Romanians to look for new "experiences," setting himself as anexample through his own adventures in India. Until 1934, when the ideasuddenly disappeared, young Romanians were obsessed with the idea ofexperien [...]
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In 1927, the young Romanian student and journalist Mircea Eliade encouraged his fellowyoung Romanians to look for new "experiences," setting himself as anexample through his own adventures in India. Until 1934, when the ideasuddenly disappeared, young Romanians were obsessed with the idea ofexperience. In this fascinating study, Philip Vanhaelemeersch considersthe social, cultural, and political history behind this short-livedintellectual fashion. The Romanian idea of experience was a lateproduct of World War I. For Romanians born between 1905 and 1911,experientialism functioned as a way to recapture their missed childhoodyears during the war and as a substitute for the fact that they unable to play a role inthe building of the new, Greater Romania after 1919. In 1925, thesechildren entered Romanian universities, and two years later theylaunched themselves as the "new generation." However, they were not thefirst group of Romanians to call themselves this-similar claims had beenmade a few years before by the students entering Romanian universitiesimmediately after the war. Vanhaelemeersch argues that the best way toapproach this history is to abandon all generational terminology.Instead, he looks at the idea of "experience," reconstructing itsgenesis to understand these individuals' desire to be perceived as anew and distinct "generation. "