OLD DEMONS – NEW CONTEXTS: DEMONIC BEINGS IN CONTEMPORARY LEGENDS

Autor polazi od pretpostavke da su demoni psihičke stvarnosti. Kao ispričana stvarnost postvaruju se u pričama. Te priče – pisane ili usmene – pripadaju književnoj vrsti predaje. Demonološke su predaje vjerojatno najveća skupina tradicijskih predaja i zrcale postojeća ili nestala vjerovanja u svijet nastanjen demonima. Propituju se motivi suvremenih priča o susretu s nepozvanim demonskim putnikom koji se nepozvan penje na kola (jarac, užareni čovjek) i potom nestaje, te predaje o "nestalom autostoperu" i o "crnoj ženi", koja se kao slučajna suputnica pojavljuje na mjestu stvarne automobilske nesreće. Autor smatra da je i suvremenim predajama cilj tumačenje i razumijevanje neobjašnjivog i nevjerojatnog jer se ljudi i danas osjećaju ugroženima i pričanjem priča žele ublažiti svoju nesigurnost.Demons are psychic realities. They become available in tales defining projections of human experience in language. These tales – oral or written – belong to that sort of text called legend. The demonological legends form the largest group of traditional legends and mirror the belief in a world full of demons. The motif of the uninvited demonic fellow-passenger is being discussed with the example of an animal ghost and that of a "fire-man" which shows up that the trust in the effectiveness of demonic power during the 19th and beginning of the 20th century is still existing. Lately the certainty in the existence of demonical beings has changed into a more sceptic discussion. The tales of the "vanishing hitchhiker" for instance describe the case of a heavenly hitchhiker, who obtains an earthy car journey in order to disappear again. The demonic being hides behind an everyday event of our mobile culture. In the traditional legend man meets a demon in an animal\u27s appearance. Contemporary legends extinguish the existence of ghosts and their effect on the people. Figures, props and staffage are being exchanged. The relation between the contemporary legends and those of former legends are obvious concerning the motif of the "vanishing hitchhiker". A continuity in the sense of a regular development cannot be identified