Reidar Thoralf Christiansen (27 January 1886 – 22 July 1971) was a Norwegianfolklorist,archivist of the Norwegian Folklore Collection (NFS) and professor of folkloristics at theUniversity of Oslo.
Christiansen studied theology during 1904–1909 and worked as a language teacher for Finnish and Sami for priest sent to Finnmark, but he was not himself ordained as a priest. Instead, he took an interest in folkloristics under the guidance ofMoltke Moe (1859–1914).He received a scholarship for a half-year's stay in Finland in 1912, where he studied underKaarle Krohn (1863–1933). During 1914–1916 he studied in Copenhagen, studying underAxel Olrik (1864–1917). He also visited Lund University and studied underCarl Wilhelm von Sydow (1878–1952).
In 1919, Christiansen received money from theNansen Fund to conduct field studies in Ireland and he publishedThe Vikings and the Viking Wars in Irish and Gaelic Tradition in 1931 drawing on that research.[1] He undertook to learn Irish, inBallyferriter, County Kerry, at the suggestion ofCarl Marstrander.[2] In 1920,Osborn Bergin wrote a poem ('Do Ridire Mhac Giolla Chríost') to Christiansen urging him to return to Ireland.[3] He became archivist of the newly established Norwegian National Archives in 1921.
Christiansen married Karin Lundbad, whom he had met in Lund, in 1921. The couple had five children, living inBlommenholm outside of Oslo.
Christiansen conducted comparative research infairy tales, comparing theScandinavian folklore andIrish folklore traditions in particular. In hisThe Migratory Legends (1958) he proposed a type catalogue for the classification of "migratory legends" (a calque of GermanWanderlegenden, i.e. folk-tales transmitted viatrans-cultural diffusion), bymotif, exemplified with examples from Norwegian folklore.
Christiansen became full professor for folkloristics at Oslo University in 1952. He was awarded an honorary doctorate fromUniversity College Dublin in 1954.He retired in 1956 and spent a semester atIndiana University Bloomington at the invitation ofStith Thompson, and 1957/9 returned to Dublin, working withSeán Ó Súilleabháin (1903–1996). In 1958, he became chairman of the Commission International des Arts et Traditions Populaires ofUNESCO.He went on to publish his Studies in Irish and Scandinavian Folktales (1959),European Folklore in America (1962) andFolktales of Norway (1964).
In his 1958Migratory Legends, Christiansen proposed a system of eight major categories (with subtypes), as follows:[4]
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
