Uncle Remus : His Songs and His Sayings

by Harris, Joel Chandler

• ISBN13: 9780140390148
• ISBN10: 0140390146
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1982-09-30
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

In 1880, Joel Chandler Harris, a moderate white Southern journalist, published a collection of black folktales, proverbs, songs, and character sketches based on stories he had heard as a child. In his introduction, Robert Hemenway discusses the book's enduring popularity, pointing out that the character of Uncle Remus, the docile and grandfatherly ex-slave storyteller, is a utopian figure-a literary creation by Harris that reassured white readers during the tense and tentative Reconstruction. By contrast, the feisty Brer Rabbit was a mainstay of black folklore long before Harris heard of his exploits. Brer Rabbit's cunning and revolutionary antics symbolically inverted the slave-master relationship and satisfied the deep human needs of a captive people. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Joel Chandler Harris (1845-1908) authored 185 Uncle Remus tales, as well as other short fiction, novels, and children's stories.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Author, Teller, and Hero	p. 7
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 33
A Note on the Text	p. 35
Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings	p. 37
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