Andrew Lang
(1844-1912)

Scottish writer, born in Selkirk, nephew of the scholar William Young Sellar. Educated at the Edinburgh Academy, St. Andrews and at Glasgow universities and Balliol College, Oxford, he was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford (1868-74), studying myth, ritual and totemism. He moved to London in 1975 to take up journalism, and became one of the most versatile writers of his day. He specialized in mythology, and took part in a celebrated controversy wit Friedrich Max Muller over the interpretation of folk tales, arguing that folklore was the foundation of literary mythology. He wrote Custom and Myth (1884), Myth, Ritual and Religion (1887), Modern Mythology (1897) and The Making of Religion (1898). He wrote a History of Scotland (3 vols, 1899-1904), and published a number of fairy books that enjoyed great popularity. He also produced studies of many literary figures, including Books and Bookmen (1886) and Letters to Dead Authors (1886), a translation of Homer, and several volumes of verse.