Sad news for the Folklore community...

Alan Dundes has passed away....For those of you not aware, he was the head of the folklore department (recently anthropology) at Berkeley, an exceedingly industrious scholar who seemes to have touched upon nearly every field of folklore studies at one time or another. I´ve read so much by him, quoted him so often it feels strange, it is as if I knew him even though I never actually got the chance to meet him.

Alan Dundes is probably one of the most widely read folklorists in the world. His early works such as The Morphology of North American Indian Folktales (1964) and The Study of Folklore (1965) are classics still in use, and his seminal theoretical articles over four decades dot bibliographies and reading lists near and far.

One of the more famous stories about him is how he always asked his students to send him a million if they struck gold later on in life and one day the department actually recieved a millon dollars ;-) or when he wrapped himself in toilet paper whilst giving a paper at the American Folklore Society :-D

"Alan Dundes has shaped the course of folklore studies through his teaching, by passing on his infectious love for folklore to his students."

He will be sorely missed........

Addition... The Berkelye website just posted and in memoriam for Dundes