Fairy tale scholars

Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born psychologist, scholar, public intellectual and author who spent most of his academic and clinical career in the United States. An early writer on autism, Bettelheim's work focused on the education of emotionally disturbed children, as well as Freudian psychology more generally. In the U.S., he later gained a position as professor at the University of Chicago and director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School for Disturbed Children, and after 1973 taught at Stanford University.

Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (Afanasief, Afanasiev or Afanas'ev, Russian: Александр Николаевич Афанасьев) (23 July [O.S. 11 July] 1826 — 5 October [O.S. 23 September] 1871) was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer who published nearly 600 Russian fairy and folk tales, one of the largest collections of folklore in the world. The first edition of his collection was published in eight volumes from 1855 to 1867, earning him the reputation as being the Russian counterpart to the Brothers Grimm.

Kate Bernheimer is an American fairy-tale writer, scholar and editor.

Marie-Louise von Franz (4 January 1915 – 17 February 1998) was a Swiss Jungian psychologist and scholar, known for her psychological interpretations of fairy tales and of alchemical manuscripts.

Hedwig Johanna Henriette von Beit (1896–1973) was a self-taught German philologist and folklorist who is remembered for her mammoth work Symbolik des Märchens (Symbolism of Fairy Tales). Published in three volumes in 1952, it was based largely on the contributions of the Swiss Jungian scholar Marie-Louise von Franz although she was not credited for her collaboration. In 2020, the book was republished by the Foundation for Jungian Psychology under the authorship of Marie-Louise von Franz. The English translation by Roy Freeman was titled Archetypal Symbols in Fairytales.

Vigen Guroian (b. 1948) is an Orthodox Christian theologian and professor who has written widely on ethics, politics, culture, literature, education, and gardening. He taught for many years at Loyola University Maryland, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New York, and the University of Virginia. In his retirement he continues to publish, lecture, and lead seminars in North America, Europe, and the Near East. He lives in Culpeper, Virginia.

Adeline Rittershaus (July 29, 1876 – September 6, 1924) was a German philologist, a scholar in old Scandinavian literature, and champion for the equality of women. She earned her doctorate in 1898, at the University of Zurich, being one of the first women to do so at that institution, and acquired in 1902, as the first woman, a Venia legendi at the Faculty of Arts of the same university. Her most famous work is a collection of Icelandic folk tales.

Charles Deulin (1827–77) was a French writer, theatre critic, and folklorist who is most known for his contemporary adaptations of European folk tales. Among his many stories are "Cambrinus, King of Beer", "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", "The Enchanted Canary", and "The Nettle Spinner'.

Ruth B. Bottigheimer is a literary scholar, folklorist, and author. She is currently Research Professor in the department of English ] at Stony Brook University, State University of New York where she specializes in European fairy tales and British children’s literature. She is also interested in the history of illustration and the religious socialization of children through edited Bible narratives. She “has been hailed as one of America’s foremost Grimm scholars”.

Kurt Ranke (14 April 1908 – 6 June 1985) was a German ethnologist who specialized in the study of fairy tales.