Max Lüthi (1909 in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

– 1991 in Zurich) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

literary theorist. He is considered the founder of formalist research on

folk tales Oral literature, orature or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung as opposed to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used vary ...

. 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, Lausanne, London, and Berlin. Later in life he was one of the editors of the ''

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

''. According to his obituary, he saw himself as among the last to undertake "

narrative research Narrative inquiry or narrative analysis emerged as a discipline from within the broader field of qualitative research in the early 20th century, as evidence exists that this method was used in psychology and sociology. Narrative inquiry uses field ...

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 Swiss folklorists 1909 births 1991 deaths Folklorists Structuralists Literary theorists