Erna Pomérantseva

Erna Vasilievna Pomérantseva (Эрна Васильевна Померанцева; 1899 – 1980, Hoffman) was a Russian folklorist. Pomérantseva was born on 7 (OS)/19 April (NS) 1899, and graduated in 1922 from the philological and historical faculty of Moscow State University.

She was an associate professor in the Moscow State University department of folklore from its foundation in 1938 until 1958, and acting head of department from 1957 to 1958.

Her research focused on Russian fairy tales, the connections between literature and folklore, and the role of folklore today. She led many expeditions to collect folklore. Her 1964 thesis at the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography had the title Судьбы русской сказки в XVIII-XX вв. (The fate of the Russian fairy tale in the 17th-20th centuries).

Her work Русские народные сказки (Russian Folk Tales, 1957) was translated into German as Russische Volksmärchen (Akademie Verlag, 1966) and was in its 13th edition in 2021.

Writing in 2009 in Féeries (journal) on the study of Russian fairy tales, Marina Guister wrote that Pomerantseva was a "remarkable folklorist", praising her collection of songs and urban legends and her writings on folk tales.

Erna Pomérantseva died on 11 August 1980, aged 81.

Selected publications

 * Русские народные сказки (Russian Folk Tales, 1957), translated as: