Cleopatra Lorintiu « Romulus Vulcanescu »

Mythological dust

(Extracted of the last interview granted by the academician Romulus Vulcanescu (1912-1999) ethnologist, anthropologist, historian of  religions, the author of the books: "Romanian Mythology", "Popular masks", "The column of the sky").

The professor Tudor Opris intermediated my appointment with the academician Romulus Vulcanescu. They had a friendship relation during 30 years.

Only 5 minutes of my interview were diffused during his life on the Channel of Romanian Television. Most of the interview was diffused after his death.

Turning took place in the office of the academician at his home, in a quiet district of Bucharest in 1997.

 It made references to the work of his missing son, the painter and the poet Mihu Vulcanescu.

The academician liked the paradoxes, his answers were short and clear, it liked to remember the great meetings in his life, his voyages to the United States, his correspondence with Mircea Eliade.)

Sir, I believe that you like to speak about your roots…

My family has several branches; some come from the area of Craiova, now they are disseminated everywhere in the world.
For visiting them , I must lose a year almost!

But your roots remained here, in Romania.

Yes, I never had the idea to leave definitively my country.
I liked to travel, to know but when my friends invited me to remain far from my grounds I refused. I cannot live elsewhere.
 

Doesn't the memory of the years passed in the prisons have creates resentments?

Not. They imprisoned so many people!
Even they imprisoned me. I said : it’s my destiny , I did not complain…

You speak so peacefully about the destiny.

The destiny is to die there you were born. Not among the foreigners, where anybody d’ not know who are you.

Which was your relationship with sacredness?

My relation with sacredness? All my life I y thought and I have write about it. I believe that this meeting between the ethnology and the religion is attractive!

Yes, all the religions meet at a given time, in a certain point. They have the same bases! You wrote about Tartaria's writting, these fascinating writing , the oldest in the worl ,5500 year before J.Ch. ( Tartaria, Turdas in the district Alba, Transylvania).

You say some share in your work that the direction of investigation in Romanian mythology could be a synthesis between the two levels: that mythological, of Dacs and that of the Romans, as well as the mythical influences of Gets.

It is true, their union gives another thing which binds afterwards with Christianity!
Paganism and Christianity are influenced reciprocally.

The synthesis which worries to you now is always in the field of mythology?

Mythology and religion. I want to be the proof of this relation, because if you read the Evangels, they are stories, credible, not credible, and in any case there have a credible part, and part of invention or fiction.
 

Did you study all the religions writing this new book ?

I studied, it is true, all the religions. Only for the people which remained primitives it still remain the mythological dimension. When will disappear theirs mythologies, only theirs religions will survive.
It is true that I was worried by the religions and their commons points.

Do you think that the Romanian people loose now a lot of his specificity , do you think that we accept a lot of things too easy?

That occurs everywhere in the world. But, at the same time I believe that the future belongs to the tolerant people.

I would like to turn over about your youth. You had the occasion to know professor Dimitrie Gusti, an important Romanian sociologist.

He was an excellent professor, he took care of his students, he speak to them in a very cordial way. Another important professor was Vasile Bancila. If it was not the war, they could continue theirs researches.

Was Vasile Parvan your intellectual model? Did you follow his example?

Yes and not, at the same time. I also followed the example of Dimitrie Gusti, and Mircea Vulcanescu, moreover I am his nephew. And when I said at the time Stalinist that I am his nephew, I was imprisoned. But I am proud of that!

Do you think that Mircea Eliade’ s researches are the echo of this fusion between the cosmic religion and the history?

 Mircea Eliade is a great writer, this is my opinion. Completely original, you can interpret his research as you want. That distinguishes it from the others…

When did you met him ?

Only before his death.
the fact that he worked a lot in the United States it ‘s normal.
In the history, the new countries absorb the culture of the old countries.
(…) The popular, traditional culture is kept by some insane people, like me.!
But I go with my “madness” until the goal.

Now , when you consider your life and your activity ,your passion for the anthropology and ethnology I’m sure that every moment has its significations and a lot of memories.
For example I know that at the time of your studies, the book of Lucian Blaga (important poet and philosopher) "Spatiu mioritic" was published.
Do you have particulars memories concerning this moment?

I deeply respected Lucian Blaga! He knew to condense in a wonderful  manner his philosophy!

Me too , I try now to condense all that I wrote in only one book, a quintessence!
( October 1997,Bucharest).

* Notes of the author : The project remained unfinished with the cause of death of the academician Romulus Vulcanescu; The interview was realized in October 1997,in Bucharest)
The film was diffused on Romanian Public Television under the title “Mythological Dust” in the emission "Point of meeting" of Cleopatra Lorintiu.
The integrality of this interview is published in the book "A supplementary light" of Cleopatra Lorintiu, Muzeum Editions 2000.