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Alexander Haggerty Krappe (6 July 1894 – 30 November 1947) was a folklorist and writer. Along with
Francis Peabody Magoun Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. MC (6 January 1895 – 5 June 1979) was one of the seminal figures in the study of medieval and English literature in the 20th century, a scholar of subjects as varied as soccer and ancient Germanic naming pract ...
, he was the first translator of folktales collected by the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...
into the English language. He was also a linguist, teacher, translator of scientific and other materials, a Roman
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
, a
comparative mythologist Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.Littleton, p. 32 Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used ...
, a classicist and Scandinavianist. Despite his contributions and academic writing, his work has been overlooked in the modern Folklore discipline as he staunchly denied the existence of American Folklore.


Biography

Alexander Haggerty Krappe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1884. His childhood was said to be unhappy, and after his parents divorced, he was taken back to Europe by his German-born father. Krappe received his education in the Leibniz und Siemen's Oberealschuel in Charlottenberg, Berlin. An accomplished student, he remained at the university until 1915 upon his decision to study modern languages. Thus Krappe spent 1915-1916 studying medieval history and Romance languages at the
University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
. Krappe went on to enter the University of Iowa in Iowa City on a graduate fellowship, and received his M.A. with a major in French and a minor in Italian. The capstone of his M.A., his thesis was entitled "The Chronology of the old French Chanson de Geste." In January 1918, he began doctoral work at the University of Chicago on another graduate fellowship. In 1919, Krappe received a Ph.D. His work in university established his interest in epic and medieval literature. In 1919, Krappe married Edith Smith, the daughter of Folklorist Grace Partridge Smith. Edith would go on to describe her husband as "brilliant, but deeply troubled and enigmatic man when all of the sources are combined, it is the picture that emerges." Krappe died on November 30, 1947 in Iowa City, Iowa, leaving three book-length manuscripts. The most significant of these, and only one published, was a translation of Grimm's Collected Fairy Tales in conjunction with
Francis Peabody Magoun Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. MC (6 January 1895 – 5 June 1979) was one of the seminal figures in the study of medieval and English literature in the 20th century, a scholar of subjects as varied as soccer and ancient Germanic naming pract ...
.


Krappe's definition of folklore

In his book ''The Science of Folklore'' he stated:
Folklore is a historical science, having its own methods of research and admitting of the same system of checks and verifications as any other. With its sister sciences it may combine to make up the cycle of our knowledge of man's past life. From this follows that it may assume the rank of an ancillary science to any or all of them, and it has done so repeatedly, notably to the various philogies, history, ethnography, and the history of religion.Science of Folklore


Krappe's definition of folksong

Krappe's work also extended into the field of folksong, his own scholarly definition
"The folksong is a song, i.e a lyric poem with melody, which originated anonymously, among unlettered folk in times past and which remained in currency for a considerable time, as a rule for centuries . . . The American Kentucky Home, though it is supposed to have originated in circle of a somewhat darker hue than is popular in certain sections of the country, is a genuine folksong of both colored and white people"
This also serves as a prime example of Krappe's unpopularity among Folklorists and anthropologists, as Krappe's work many times shows him to be racist and sexist.


Works

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References


Obituary

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Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krappe, Alexander Haggerty Folklorists Comparative mythologists 19th-century births 1947 deaths Writers from Boston American people of German descent Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Iowa alumni University of Chicago alumni Translators from German 20th-century American translators Writers on Germanic paganism American expatriates in Germany