Lutz Röhrich

Lutz Röhrich (9 October 1922 – 29 December 2006) was a German folklorist and scholar studying topics relating to literature, oral stories, and similar types of media. He enjoyed a long and prestigious career, starting as a professor at the Philipp University of Marburg in 1967 and experiencing his stature growing decade by decade. His peers as well as those that he taught referred to him as "ein lebendiges lexikon", "the living encyclopedia", due to his deep knowledge and friendliness in discussing many different aspects of his work.

Röhrich is perhaps best known internationally for writing the book ''Märchen und Wirklichkeit'' (English: ''Folktales and Reality''), a work first published in 1956, and thereby introducing many students to studying fantastical tales in a social science setting. Shorter works such as his habitual essays number in the hundreds. His travels as a visiting professor took him to engagements not just in Europe but across the Atlantic, expressing his ideas in both Canada and the United States.

One of the founding members of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research, his influence has affected much research since the end of the Second World War. The shadow of Nazi Germany, and political extremism more generally, provided the backdrop for his efforts to look at folktales through a more analytical lens, emphasizing the sense of time and space, rather than the traditional nationalist, race-based lenses. Besides the aforementioned Society, he also served as a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy (in Uppsala, Sweden). Provided by Wikipedia