Abstract：Legend studies in the west have undergone about two hundred years since the Brothers Grimm’s collection of German legends. It underwent four stages：the early stage centering on collection and publication and the developing stage centering on indexing and legend types， both of which were in Europe. Legend studies emerging in the United States in the 1960s centered on contemporary (urban) legend，which led to the transformation of legend studies in the west. Legend studies in the United States attempted to involve multifarious methodologies from folkloristics including performance theory，context analysis and teller analysis，and introduced multiple theoretical perspectives of psychology， sociology， gender studies， and ethnic group studies，which heralded a sociology-anthropology tendency and the independence of legend studies in folkloristics.
2019, Vol. 58 
