Paul Delarue

Paul Alfred Delarue, born 20 April 1889 in Saint-Didier, Nièvre, died 25 July 1956 in Autun, Saône-et-Loire, was a French folklorist.[1]

A world-renowned specialist in the field of folklore,[2] his crowning achievement was his Le Conte populaire français, a catalog of folktales found in France and French-speaking areas, structured and modeled on the Aarne-Thompson classification system.[2][1] The first volume appeared in 1957, a few months after his death. The project, expected to run to several volumes, was continued by Marie-Louise Tenèze.[3]

After dabbling in his interest into local flora (Étude sur la Flore nivernaise, published 1930), he dedicated himself to transcribing and index-carding collected folktales in the manuscripts left by Achille Millien, the Nivernais folklorist.[2] Between 1933 and 1936 he launched his own field study with the inhabitants of Nièvre, while teaching at Saint-Léger-des-Vignes, then Montsauche and Vauzelles, then moving to the Paris area. He was director of the school in Ivry-sur-Seine, 1939–1946.[1]

His articles showed interest in the origins of the mother goose tales of Charles Perrault, and the relationship between oral and written literature.[2]

An anthology by Delarue was published in English translation as The Borzoi Book of French Folk Tales in 1956.[4]

He had distinguished service in the First World War, and had received the legion of honor. During World War II, he was ranked Chef de bataillon (major), fighting battles in Saarland and Ardennes, taken prisoner in 1940, and liberated in 1941.[1]

Paul Delarue headed the folklore committee at the Ligue de l'enseignement (1946-1953) and subsequently at the Musée national des Arts et Traditions Populaires.[1] He was also vice-president of the Société d'Ethnographie Française from 1952,[1] and sat on the directing committee at thea Fédération Folklorique d'Île-de-France.

His son Georges Delarue (born 1926) has continued along his footsteps, publishing Chansons populaires du Nivernais et du Morvan (7 volumes).