Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 28, 2026

Maria Tatar

Maria Magdalene Tatar is an American academic whose expertise lies in children's literature, German literature, and folklore. She is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, and Chair of the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University.

Last revised
Jul 28, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
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573 w
Citations
16
Source
Maria Tatar
Maria Tatar in 2018
Born1945 (age 80–81)
Pressath, Germany1
CitizenshipUS (naturalized 1956)1
Alma mater
OccupationsAcademic, writer
Known forBooks on mythology and folklore
Spouse
Stephen A. Schuker
(div. 1989)
ChildrenLauren Schuker (daughter)
Daniel Schuker (son)3

Maria Magdalene Tatar (born May 13, 1945)1 is an American academic whose expertise lies in children's literature, German literature, and folklore.45 She is the John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, and Chair of the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University.56

Louis-Léopold Boilly's And the Ogre Ate Him Up!, used in Maria Tatar's Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood source ↗

Biography

Maria Tatar was born in Pressath, Germany.1 Her family emigrated from Hungary to the United States in the 1950s when she was a child.7

She grew up in Highland Park, Illinois and graduated from Highland Park High School in 1963.3

Tatar earned an undergraduate degree from Denison University and a doctoral degree from Princeton University.38 In 1971, after finishing her doctorate at Princeton University, Tatar joined the faculty of Harvard University. She received tenure in 1978.3 She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Selected works

References

References

  1. "Notice de personne: Tatar, Maria (1945–....)". Catalogue. National Library of France (bnf.fr). Retrieved 2017-05-11.
  2. "Spellbound: Fairy tale expert Maria Tatar '67 on how some of the world's oldest stories help us navigate modern life" Archived 2014-05-02 at the Wayback Machine. Denison Magazine. Denison University. Spring 2014.
  3. Craig Lambert (November–December 2007). "The Horror and Beauty". Harvard Magazine.
  4. A. S. Byatt (October 12, 2009). "Love in fairytales". The Guardian.
  5. Beth Potier (April 10, 2003). "Once Upon a Time ..." Harvard University Gazette.
  6. Tatar, Maria (20 April 2009). Reading Them To Sleep, Storytelling and The Invention of Bedtime Reading. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-0-393-24004-7. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  7. Amy Sutherland (October 27, 2012). "Maria Tatar: Professor and fairy-tale expert". The Boston Globe.
  8. Cindy Cantrell (April 27, 2009). "In praise of bedtime stories". The Boston Globe.
  9. A. S. Byatt (November 7, 2009). "Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood by Maria Tatar". The Guardian.
External links