Eliade on Writing Novel (Conceptual, Thematic Technique) Experience
Eliade: That same year I also published an almost Joycean novel, called The Light That Failed. That same title as one of Kipling's books. Was that intentional? Eliade: Yes, because of a certain similarity between the two central characters. I've tried to reread the book several times since — impossible, I can't understand a word of it! I had been very impressed by an excerpt from Finnegans Wake , published under the title "Anna Livia Plurabelle," and I employed the stream-of-consciousness technique of Ulysses — for the first time in Romania, I believe. It was wholly unsuccessful. Even the critics didn't know what to make of it. It was totally unreadable. This influence Joyce had on you, and the taste for the word as such that it presupposes, does surprise me, rather. It seems to me that up until then you had been more inclined to treat language as simply a means to an end. Were you writing poetry at this time? In a sense yes, But I ought to ...
