Mody Coggin Boatright (1896 - 1970)

Mody Coggin Boatright (16 October 1896 - 20 Aug 1970) was an American university professor, folklorist, and author. Unlike many of his contemporaries who embellished folk tales with literary touches, Boatright retold stories in an unadorned and concise style much closer to true folk narration and recognized that in oral performance these tales were very molded by the immediate situation of their telling. His work stressed the importance of studying folklore in its total cultural context and of relating it to the lives of those who practiced it.