„ZBURĂTORUL” – FROM MYTH TO POETRY, IN THE POEM OF ION HELIADE-RĂDULESCU
„ZBURĂTORUL” – FROM MYTH TO POETRY, IN THE POEM OF ION HELIADE-RĂDULESCU

Summary/Abstract: „Zburătorul” is considered by George Călinescu to be the masterpiece of Ion Heliade- Rădulescu's poetry. The starting point is the myth of a fantastic being, named „zburătorul”, a daimon who comes to girls' houses at night, tormenting them with the fires of love, a myth widespread in Romanian mythology, legends and fairy tales. The demon, which usually appears at night, tempting and tormenting young girls, is often associated with an illness, and in many ways the experience is devastating for the human being. This myth, in its cultural aspect, reflects the fundamental problem of sexuality among Romanians, this mythological being can be compared to a beautiful demon, an adolescent Eros, who gives pubescent girls the turmoil and yearnings of first love. His demonic attributes are evident, especially in the consequences it has on the victims it haunts. Not having a literature analyzing love, it was natural for Romanian poets to descend to the primitive moment, to the myth of the invasion of the erotic instinct in girls. Characteristic in all these compositions is the total irrationality of the crisis. The myth that explains the emergence of feelings of love has been elaborated in many cult literary works, this poem being just one of them. In this poem, the mysterious invasion of love is captured in full aggression, the girl, in crisis of puberty, being brought down by a mysterious disease, mythologically explainable and magically curable. The ultimate message of this poem, beyond the presentation of a character from Romanian folklore, remains the emphasis of one of the deep ideas of the popular collective mind, namely the fact that the fire of love can lead to a total psychic destruction, unsolvable by magic or faith, and up to, finally, accepted by the mentality of the village as such.

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