Demófilo

Demófilo with his wife Ana Ruiz

Antonio Machado Álvarez (born April 6, 1846 in Santiago de Compostela , † February 4, 1893 in Seville ), also Antonio Machado y Álvarez , better known by his pseudonym Demófilo , was a Spanish writer, anthropologist and folklorist .

Life

Demófilo's parents were Cipriana Álvarez Durán from Seville and Antonio Machado y Núñez from Cádiz. His father was a full professor of science at the Universidad de Sevilla . Demófilo also studied philosophy and law there. His teacher Federico de Castro brought him the ideas of the theory of evolution and Krausismo . Later, he turned to the utilitarian social philosophy of Herbert Spencer to.

After graduating, he was an interim professor of metaphysics at the University of Seville and at the same time a judge at the local court. He founded a law firm and became a professor of folklore at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza in Madrid. In the magazine Revista Mensual de Filosofía, Literatura y Ciencias , he published his first work on popular literature from 1869 to 1874.

In 1871 he became a founding member of the Sociedad Antropológica Sevillana , together with his father, the founder of this society. In 1872 he published together with Federico de Castro Cuentos, leyendas y costumbres populares . In 1877 he opened a permanent section on popular literature in the magazine La Enciclopedia .

In 1878 the first Folklore Society was founded in London. For Demófilo this was an incentive to found a similar company in Spain. When the Romanist Hugo Schuchardt traveled to Spain in 1879 , Demófilo became friends with him and from then on corresponded with him about Spanish folklore. In 1881 he published his concept Bases de la organización de El Folclore Español for the "Society for the Collection and Study of Popular Knowledge and Traditions". Accordingly, the El Folclore Andaluz company was founded. This was followed by the founding of regional societies throughout Spain to research regional linguistic, geographical and cultural peculiarities. In March 1882 a monthly magazine of the same name was founded, which was renamed El Folclore Bético-extremeño in February 1883 . The booklets have been reprinted several times as facsimile in modern times.

Demófilo translated some basic works on folklore, or as he himself wrote, Folk-Lore , from English into Spanish, including the standard work by Edward Tylor and the work on the history of folk medicine by William George Black . From the French he translated Reinhart Dozy's book on the medieval literary history of Spain.

His theory was very different from the popular theory of the folk spirit and racist-folkloric approaches. Demófilo means, based on the Greek , friend of the people . Demófilo was keen to convey the people's perspective. His own definition of his subject was:

"Esta es, para mí, la ciencia que tiene por objeto el estudio de la humanidad indiferenciada o anónima, a partir desde una edad que puede considerarse infantil hasta nuestros días."

"For me it is the science of undifferentiated or anonymous humanity, beginning with what could be seen as childhood up to our time."

- Demófilo

He sharply opposed the people's contribution to the history of Spain being swept under the carpet as if “a people never existed” or as if their contribution consisted in “half a dozen unfortunate people waving their hats enthusiastically when the bishop or the magnate gave a speech. "

In Madrid he published eleven volumes on folklore from 1883–1888, the Biblioteca de Tradiciones Populares . Friends like Luis Romero y Espinosa were enthusiastic about his theory and became folklorists themselves. He supported Alejandro Guichot intellectually, organisationally and financially in the publication of his works; among others he worked with Luis Montoto and Francisco Rodríguez Marín . He published a collection of puzzles and puzzle stories and delved into the study of flamenco . His Colección de cantes flamencos was the first anthology of this genre.

Troubled by money, he accepted a position as a lawyer in San Juan de Puerto Rico in 1892 , which friends had helped him to get. Shortly after arriving on the island of Puerto Rico , he fell ill. His brother-in-law financed his return trip to Seville. There he died on February 4, 1892, at the age of less than 47.

His marriage to Ana Ruiz Hernández had five children, including the poets Manuel Machado and Antonio Machado .

Publications

• Obras Completas. Enrique Baltanás, Seville, Biblioteca de Autores Sevillanos, 2005, 3 volumes
• Biblioteca de las Tradiciones Populares Españolas. Francisco Álvarez y Cª, Sevilla 1883–1886 (Madrid: Est. Tip. De Ricardo Fé) 1882 a 1888, 11 volumes
• El folclore del niño. en España. 1885–1886, volumes CV – CVI.
• Colección de cantes flamencos. 1881; numerous reprints. Digital copy: Biblioteca Digital de Castilla y León [1] , Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Cultura y Turismo, 2012–2013.
• Colección de enigmas y adivinanzas. 1880.
• Batallas del libre pensamiento. 1885.
• Together with Federico de Castro : Cuentos, leyendas y costumbres populares. 1872.
• Adivinanzas francesas y españolas. Imp. De El Mercantil Sevillano, Seville 1881.

References and comments

1. ↑ folclore
2. ↑ free educational establishment
3. ↑ Popular tales, legends and customs
4. ↑ «sociedad para la recopilación y estudio del saber y las tradiciones populares»
5. ↑ «media docena de infelices que movían afirmativamente la cabeza cuando hablaban el obispo o el magnate»
6. ^ Ian Gibson: Ligero de equipaje . Santillana Editores G., Madrid 2006, ISBN 84-03-09686-0 , p. 73 .

literature

• Daniel Pineda Novo: Antonio Machado y Álvarez. Vida y obra del primer flamenco logo español . Ed. Cinterco y Fundación Andaluza de Flamenco, Madrid 1991, ISBN 84-86365-33-3 .
• Cartas a Schuchardt. La correspondencia inédita de los folkloristas y otros intelectuales españoles con el romanista y lingüista Hugo Schuchardt . Fundación Machado, Seville 1996.
• Enrique Baltanás: Los Machado. Una familia, dos siglos de cultura española. Fundación José Manuel Lara, Madrid 2006.