Hans-Jörg Uther (born 20 July 1944) is a German literary scholar and folklorist.

Biography

Born 20 July 1944, in

Herzberg am Harz Herzberg am Harz (Esperanto: ) is a town in the Göttingen (district), Göttingen district of Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography Herzberg is situated on the southwestern rim of the Harz mountain range and the Harz National Park. Natural monument ...

, Uther studied

Folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, Germanistik and

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

between 1969 and 1970 at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

and between 1970 and 1973 at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

. In his last academic year, he passed the first state examination for teaching at grammar schools. In 1971, he began a period of over 40 years working on the '' Enzyklopädie des Märchens'', initially as a student assistant, from 1973 as an editor. In 1980 he became a PhD with the Dissertation "Behinderte in populären Erzählungen" ("The Disabled in Folktales") in Göttingen. From 1990 to 1992, he was a lecturer at the University of Göttingen, and from 1991 to 1994 at the University-Gesamthochschule Essen. In 1994 he gained his Habilitation there in German studies, literature and folklore. From 2000 he was

professor extraordinarius Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...

for German and literature studies in Essen. Since 2010, Uther has been the head of the ''Enzyklopädie des Märchens'' until the end of the project at the end of 2015. Uther published on comparative and historical folklore, on

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

and youth literature, on folkloristic

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

as well as on research into tale-types, their content, and motifs. From 1989 to 2002, he was editor of the series ''Die Märchen der Weltliteratur'' of Eugen Diederichs Verlag. Since 1988, he has been co-editor of the journal '' Fabula''. He also published two important editions of

Grimm's Fairy Tales ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (, , commonly abbreviated as ''KHM''), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Jacob Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm, first publish ...

in 1996 and 2004. In 2004, his revision of the Aarne-Thompson Index appeared. 138 of the approximately 4,000 articles in the ''Enzyklopädie des Märchens'' were written by Uther. Uther has been a corresponding member of the Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (Academy for Children's and Youth Literature) in Volkach since 1992 and, since 1993, "Folklore Fellow" of the Finnish Academy of Sciences in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. He also belongs to the scientific advisory board of the Brüder Grimm-Gesellschaft in Kassel.Wissenschaftlicher Rat der Brüder Grimm-Gesellschaft
grimms.de, Stand 2017

Major works

* * * * *

Biographies

* ''Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender 2005.'' Band III, Schi-Z. München 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uther, Hans-Jorg Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni University of Göttingen alumni Academic staff of the University of Göttingen 1944 births Living people