Demófilo

Antonio Machado Álvarez,[1] better known by his pseudonym Demófilo (Santiago de Compostela, 1848 – Seville, 4 February 1893), was a Spanish writer, anthropologist, and folklorist.

[2] His mother, Cipriana Álvarez, was the niece of the writer Agustín Durán, author of a collection of Spanish narrative ballads (romanzas) of the 19th century.

His teacher, Federico de Castro, instilled in him an interest in evolution and the philosophical ideas of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause;[4] later he became inclined toward the utilitarist social philosophy of Herbert Spencer.

His interest in folklore helped shape the magazine La Enciclopedia (The Encyclopedia) (1877), published decennially, and in whose pages he created a permanent section on popular literature.

Machado ventured his own definition of the discipline: In Madrid, he directed production of a collection of books of and about folklore, the Library of Popular Traditions (1883-1888), that eventually reached eleven volumes.