Joel Chandler Harris: Difference between revisions

'''Joel Chandler Harris''' (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of [[Uncle Remus]] stories. Born in [[Eatonton, Georgia]], where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years, Harris spent most of his adult life in [[Atlanta]] working as an associate editor at ''[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|The Atlanta Constitution]]''.

On July 3, 1908, Joel Chandler Harris died of acute [[nephritis]] and complications from [[cirrhosis]] of the liver. In his obituary, the ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' echoed Roosevelt's sentiment, stating: "Uncle Remus cannot die. Joel Chandler Harris has departed this life at the age of 60 ... but his best creation, [Uncle Remus] with his fund of folk-lore, will live in literature."<ref>"Uncle Remus." ''Saturday Review of Books,'' the ''The New York Times.'' July 11, 1908.</ref>

Scholars have questioned histhe collectionauthenticity of storieshis main works, citing the difficulty that many white folklorists had in persuading African Americans to divulge their folklore.<ref name="levin">{{cite book | last = Levine | first = Lawrence | title = Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom | url = https://archive.org/details/blackcultureblac00levi | url-access = registration | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1977 | isbn = 0-19-502374-9 }}</ref> But, others note the similarity of African folk stories in several sources that are similar to the Brer Rabbit tales as published, which represent a folk genre. Examples include the [[Ila language]] ''Sulwe mbwakatizha Muzovu'' ("Hare makes the elephant afraid") in Smith & Dale ''The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia'' volume 2, page 309.<ref>1920, reprinted 1968 by University Books, New Hyde Park, New York. Also note the 14 examples of tales translated into English where Sulwe, the Hare, is the mischievous main character, volume 2, page 375ff.</ref> In the totally unrelated [[Kanuri people|Kanuri]] or Bornuese culture in Northern Nigeria, such tales as a ''Fable of Jackal and a Hyena''<ref>Sigismund Koelle, ''African Native Literature'', London, 1854, reprinted by Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, New York, 1970. page 162.</ref> display similar themes quite in the Brer Rabbit manner. The difficulties in obtaining printed sources on the African languages may have inhibited these aspects of critical treatment. Some critical scholars cite Uncle Remus as a problematic and contradictory figure: sometimes a mouthpiece for white paternalism, sometimes a stereotype of the black entertainer, and sometimes poetically subversive.<ref name="sundquist">{{cite book | last = Sundquist | first = Eric | title = To Wake the Nations: Race in the Making of American Literature | url = https://archive.org/details/towakenationsrac00sund | url-access = registration | publisher = Belknap Press of Harvard University Press | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-674-89331-X }}</ref>