Elfriede Moser-Rath (3 February 1926 in

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- 1993 in

Unterhaching Unterhaching (; Central Bavarian: ''Haching'') is the second largest municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria, Germany, located to the south of Munich city centre and easily accessible via two federal motorways, Bundesautobahn 8 and Bunde ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) was an Austrian

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

specializing in folk tales (

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

), and early modern literature. Moser-Rath received her doctorate in 1949 from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

with the publication of her thesis: ''Studien zur Quellenkunde und Motivik obersteirischer Volksmärchen aus der Sammlung Pramberger,'' which was an analysis of the narratives in Irish fairytales. She took her first job at the Austrian Folkculture Museum (Österreichischen Museum für Volkskunde). In 1955 she married Hans Moser, who was the Director of the Bavarian Folk Museum (Bayerischen Landesstelle für Volkskunde) in

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, but who was also an Austrian native. In 1969 she went to 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 ...

as an assistant professor to work under Professor

Rolf Wilhelm Brednich Rolf Wilhelm Brednich (8 February 1935 – 30 November 2023) was a German Europeanist ethnologist and ethnographer (''Volkskundler'') and folklorist. Biography Rolf Wilhelm Brednich was born on 8 February 1935. He studied ''Volkskunde'', Germ ...

on the

Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales The ''Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales'' (''Enzyklopädie des Märchens'') is a German language, German reference work on international folkloristics, which runs to fifteen volumes and is acknowledged as the most comprehensive work in its field. It ex ...

(Enzyklopädie des Märchens). In 1982 she became a full professor there. She is known primarily for the quality of her work on the Encyclopedia of Fairytales, and her analysis of literature from early modern times, and especially of Catholic sermons from the baroque period.

Works (selection)

*''Predigtmärlein der Barockzeit. Exempel, Sage, Schwank und Fabel in geistlichen Quellen des oberdeutschen Raumes''. Hrsg von Elfriede Moser-Rath. Berlin 1964. *''Die Fabel als rhetorisches Element in der katholischen Predigt der Barockzeit''. pp. 59–75 in: Hasubek, Peter (ed.); Die Fabel: Theorie, Geschichte und Rezeption einer Gattung. Berlin: Schmidt; 1982. 291 pp. *''"Lustige Gesellschaft" : Schwank und Witz des 17. u. 18. Jahrhundert in kultur- u. sozialgeschichtlichem Kontext''. Stuttgart 1984 *''Dem Kirchenvolk die Leviten gelesen : Alltag im Spiegel süddeutscher Barockpredigten''. Stuttgart 1991 *''

Kleine Schriften ' is a German phrase ("short writings" or "minor works"; ) often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These shorter works we ...

zur populären Literatur des Barock''. Hrsg. von Ulrich Marzolph u.a. Göttingen 1994

References

, ''Zum 65. Geburtstag von Elfriede Moser-Rath'', in: Fabula, 32 (1991), p. 1-3 *Rudolf Schenda in: Bayerisches Jahrbuch für Volkskunde 1991, p. 147-149. *Ingrid Tomkowiak: ''Elfriede Moser-Rath (1926–1993)''. In: Fabula 35 (1994), p. 125-127 *Ingrid Tomkowiak: ''Moser-Rath, Elfriede''. In: Enzyklopädie des Märchens Vol. 9.2. (1998), p. 939-943. *Wolfgang Brückner: ''Martins von Cochem 'Außerlesenes History-Buch' und seine Vorbilder. Für Elfriede Moser-Rath '' in Fabula, 33(3-4) (1992), p. 193-205.

Works (selection)

References

See also