Max Lüthi (1909 in

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– 1991 in

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) was a

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literary theorist. He is considered the founder of formalist research on folk tales. His first book is the field's foundational text, "a classic, a definitive statement about the nature, style, and form of the folktale genre in its European variety."Dan Ben-Amos. "Foreword." ''The European Folktale: Form and Nature''. Indiana University Press, 1982. Lüthi's aim was to arrive at a "phenomenology of folk narrative as we find it in Europe" and "establish the essential laws of the genre."Lüthi, Max. ''The European folktale: Form and nature''. Vol. 393. Indiana university press, 1986. He identified five aspects of all folktales: one-dimensionality, depthlessness, abstraction, isolation, and all-inclusiveness. He studied in Bern,

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, and

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. Later in life he was one of the editors of the '' Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales''. According to his obituary, he saw himself as among the last to undertake " narrative research of the old-fashioned kind."

Selected works

*''The European Folktale: Form and Nature'' (Folklore Studies in Translation Series) (1947, German; 1982 English) *''Fairytale As Art Form and Portrait of Man'' (Folklore Studies in Translation Series) ''(1987)'' *''Once upon a Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales'' (1970)Luthi, Max. Once Upon a Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tale. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luthi, Max 1909 births 1991 deaths People from Bern Swiss folklorists Structuralists Literary theorists