Richard Mercer Dorson: Institutionalization and Internationalization of the American Folklore Science

Abstract

Richard Mercer Dorson made great strides in fieldwork theory and technique, influ­encing especially his own students' work. He pioneered the analysis of oral style in folk narratives and of the role of folklore in American literature, here too stirring up considerable controversy. He was an architect of intellectual bridges between folklor­ists of the United States and their counterparts in Europe, Africa, and Asia, both through his own writings and through the published works and conferences he stimu­lated others to bring about. And, more than anyone else, he agitated for the establish­ment of academic programs in folklore in the United States, with the respected pro­fessional instructors, systematic curricula, and scholarly bibliography needed to sus­tain them. The legacy of Dorson's writings to future American, and folklorists world­wide, is rich and complex, requir­ing the long term for its full significance to be appre­ciated.