Harris, Joel Chandler. (1848 - 1908).

- born in Georgiana

- apprenticed in a printing shop

- worked for regional newspapers, then for the Atlanta Constitution

- largely self-taught <=> M. Twain

< dialect tales heard in childhood by slaves: the oral tradition of gospels, spirituals, fables, and tales

- author of editorial writing, early humorous pieces for newspapers, and dialect tales

- an excellent ear for dialect

- an ability to emphasise the universal nature of the tales

- the character of Uncle Remus = an old slave of age-old wisdom outwitting that of his masters

- creates the ‘best friend’ relationship with the wide-eyed audience, likened to a little white boy from the plantation household

=> introduces a new literary tradition and a memorable new character

= a collection of folk poems and proverbs

Nights with Uncle Remus (1883)

Free Joe and Other Georgian Sketches (1887):

- a sense of the tragic dislocation of the South Afro-Americans after 1865

Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892)

Uncle Remus and the Little Boy (1905)

Quote

"Lazy fokes's stummucks don't git tired".

From "Plantation Proverbs" in Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1881).

(Source: Wikimedia Commons).

Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995.

Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. The Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Cunliffe, Marcus. The Literature of the United States. London: Penguin, 1991.

Lauter, Paul, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.

McQuade, Donald, gen.ed. The Harper American Literature. New York: Harper & Collins, 1996.

Ruland, Richard, Malcolm Bradbury. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997.

Vančura, Zdeněk, ed. Slovník spisovatelů: Spojené státy americké. Praha: Odeon, 1979.