ABSTRACT
In Ipostaze ale demonologiei folclorice în opera lui Simeon Florea Marian Mircea Păduraru shows that the Romanian ethnologist’s researches are the first important argument, in the Romanian ethnology, for the idea that the devil is the most famous figure within the whole Romanian folkloric imagery. He proves that almost every investigation that Sim. Fl. Marian undertakes has to pay attention to a continuous malefic assistance. Every habit, feast or crucial event in the existence of man is considered from a twofold perspective: the event in itself and the demonic reaction to it. Beyond the descriptions of the devil and his agents (appearance, acts, attributes), dealt with in a manner almost similar to a classical demonological discourse, Sim. Fl. Marian also observes man’s permanent, restless response to evil. Doing so, he appears to be the first ethnologist having grasped the dark side of the Romanian soul and, at the same tine, had drawn a map of the fears and anxieties governing his imaginary world.