author
Gordon Hall Gerould
1877–1953
A respected American scholar of medieval literature and folklore, he spent most of his career at Princeton and also wrote fiction and literary essays. His work moved easily between old ballads, saints’ legends, Chaucer, and the wider history of storytelling.
1 Audiobook
The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story
by Gordon Hall Gerould
About the author
Born in Goffstown, New Hampshire, Gordon Hall Gerould was an American philologist and folklorist whose academic life centered on medieval English literature. He taught at Bryn Mawr College before joining Princeton University, where he served as a professor of English for many years.
Gerould is remembered for his studies of ballads, folk traditions, saints’ legends, and Chaucer, and for books including The North England Homily Collection and Chaucerian Essays. Archival records at Princeton also show the span of his university career there from 1905 to 1946.
He married fellow writer Katharine Elizabeth Fullerton Gerould in 1910. Alongside his scholarly work, he published fiction as well, making him a writer who bridged serious research and literary craft.