Uncle Remus
Uncle
Remus is the fictional title character
and narrator of a collection of black American folktales compiled and adapted
by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist
in post-Reconstruction Atlanta,
and he produced seven Uncle Remus books. He wrote these stories to represent
the struggle in the Southern United States, and more specifically in the plantations. He did so by
introducing tales that he had heard and framing them in the plantation context.
He wrote his stories in a dialect which was his interpretation of Deep South
Negro language of the time. For these framing and stylistic choices, his
collection has encountered controversy.[1]
Structure
Uncle
Remus is a collection of animal stories,
songs, and oral folklore collected from southern black Americans. Many of the
stories are didactic,
much like those of Aesop's
Fables and Jean de La Fontaine's
stories. Uncle Remus is a kindly old freedman who serves as a story-telling
device, passing on the folktales like the traditional African griot to children gathered around him.
The
stories are written in an eye
dialect devised by Harris to represent a Deep
South Negro dialect. Uncle Remus is a
compilation of Br'er Rabbit
storytellers whom Harris had encountered during his time at the Turnwold
Plantation. Harris said that the use of the Negro dialect was an effort to add
to the effect of the stories and to allow the stories to retain their
authenticity.[2] The genre of stories is the trickster tale. At the time of
Harris's publication, his work was praised for its ability to capture
plantation Negro dialect.[3]
Br'er
Rabbit ("Brother Rabbit") is the main character of the stories, a
character prone to tricks and troublemaking who is often opposed by Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. In one tale, Br'er Fox constructs a doll out of a lump of
tar and puts clothing on it. When Br'er Rabbit comes along, he addresses the
"tar
baby" amiably but receives no
response. Br'er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the tar baby's
lack of manners, punches it and kicks it, and becomes stuck.[4]
Bibliography
Harris
compiled six volumes of Uncle Remus stories between 1881 and 1907; a
further three books were published posthumously, following his death in 1908.
- Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1881)
- Nights with Uncle Remus (1883)
- Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892)
- The Tar Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus (1904)
- Told by Uncle Remus: New Stories of the Old Plantation (1905)
- Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit (1907)
- Uncle Remus and the Little Boy (1910)
- Uncle Remus Returns (1918)
- Seven Tales of Uncle Remus (1948)
Adaptations in film and other media
Comics
In
1902, artist Jean Mohr adapted the Uncle Remus stories into a two-page
comic story titled Ole Br'er Rabbit for The North American.[5]
The
McClure Newspaper Syndicate released a Br'er Rabbit Sunday strip drawn by J. M.
Condé from June 24 to October 7, 1906.[6]
An
Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit newspaper Sundays-only strip (King Features Syndicate) ran from October 14, 1945, through December 31, 1972, as
an offshoot of the Disney comics
strip Silly Symphony.[7]
Films
The
stories have inspired at least three feature films:
- Walt Disney's Song of the South (1946), a combination of live action and animation with James Baskett as Remus[8]
- Ralph Bakshi's film Coonskin (1975), a satire of the Disney film which adapts the Uncle Remus stories to a contemporary Harlem setting
- The Adventures of Brer Rabbit (2006), a direct-to video production with hip-hop influences[9]
TV
- Brer Rabbit Tales (1991) by Emerald Hill Productions.
Music
Uncle
Remus appears heavily as a supporting character in The
Residents Rock Opera, "Not Available",
recorded in 1974 and released in 1978. After returning from Easter
Island, he provides unhelpful, dismissive
advice to the lead character, quoting "Well, strangers have left on longer
trains before." in response to his cries for help and understanding.
"Uncle
Remus" is a song by Frank
Zappa and George
Duke from Apostrophe
(') (1974), about the Joel Chandler
Harris character.
In
Bob
Dylan’s epic poem, Last Thoughts on
Woody Guthrie, the author lists several people
that are commonly looked to for hope and inspiration, saying “that stuff ain’t
real.” In one verse of the poem, he says “And Uncle Remus can’t tell you and
neither can Santa Claus.”
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