Walter Anderson’s Letters to Joan Amades: A Study of the Collaboration between Two Contemporary Folklorists
Walter Anderson’s Letters to Joan Amades: A Study of the Collaboration between Two Contemporary Folklorists

Summary/Abstract: Between 1953 and 1958, Walter Anderson and Joan Amades maintained a frequent correspondence, in which they discussed issues related to the study of folklore. Of these letters, only those written by Walter Anderson – a total of 31 – have been preserved. This article examines the contents of those letters and, consequently, the nature of the collaboration between the two folklorists. In addition to some biographical details, the letters provide first-hand information about the work the folklorists were doing, the publications they exchanged, their participation in folklorist associations and international conferences, etc. However, the letters show, above all, the extent to which Anderson acted as Amades’s mentor, especially on issues related to the cataloguing of Catalan folktales – a project which was still unfinished when Joan Amades died in 1959, followed by Walter Anderson in 1962, and which was not completed until more recently.

• Details
• Contents