Jan Harold Brunvand
| Jan Harold Brunvand | |
|---|---|
Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand at an American Folklore Society conference
|
|
| Born |
March 23, 1933 Cadillac, Michigan, U.S. |
| Residence | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Indiana University |
| Occupation | Professor, Urban legends researcher |
| Notable work | The Vanishing Hitchhiker |
| Spouse(s) | Judith Brunvand (1956–present) |
| Website | www |
Jan Harold Brunvand (born March 23, 1933) is a retired American folklorist, researcher, writer, public speaker, and professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah.
Brunvand is best known for popularizing the concept of the urban legend, a form of modern folklore or story telling. Urban Legends are "too good to be true" stories that travel by word of mouth, by print or the internet and are attributed to an FOAF: friend of a friend. "Urban Legends," Brunvand says, "have a persistent hold on the imagination because they have an element of suspense or humor, they are plausible and they have a moral."
Though criticized for the "popular" rather than "academic" orientation of his book, The Vanishing Hitchhiker and others, Brunvand felt that it was a "natural and worthwhile part of his job as a folklorist to communicate the results of his research to the public."
For his life time dedication to the field of folklore, which included radio and television appearances, a syndicated newspaper column, and over 100 publications (articles, books, notes and reviews), Brunvand is considered to be "the legend scholar with the greatest influence on twentieth-century media."
Brunvand was born on March 23, 1933, in Cadillac, Michigan, to Norwegian immigrants Harold N. Brunvand and Ruth Brunvand. He and his two siblings, Tor and Richard, were brought up in Lansing, Michigan. Brunvand graduated from Lansing Sexton High School, Lansing, Michigan in 1951.
From high school, Brunvand attended Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, where, in 1955, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. While at Michigan State, he served as second lieutenant in the signal corps. Brunvand went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in English from the same university in 1957.
While attending Michigan State, Brunvand met Richard Dorson, a folklorist and professor, who became a mentor. Brunvand took an undergraduate American Folklore course Dorson offered in the fall quarter of 1954 and, in subsequent semesters, completed two of Dorson's graduate courses in folklore as a special enrollee. The work Brunvand and other classmates did for Dorson's classes included "preparing a large and well organized personal collection of folklore garnered from oral tradition and furnished with informant data and background comments." These papers would later serve as the beginnings of a large archive of folklore housed at Indiana University.
...
Wikipedia