Talk:Uncle Remus
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Thanks for the editing. However, I'm not sure this statement The style of story is the trickster tale; and many may well have roots in West Africa. is entirely accurate. Harris was white and I suspect that the stories are folklore only in style. I don't remember anyone ever claiming that the stories have their roots in authentic American Negro folklore (as opposed to being complete inventions by Harris). If you can't support such a claim, it might be more accurate to say that they resemble trickster folktales. Do you know more than this about the origin of Harris' stories? alteripse 16 apr 04 Ok, thanks to the link from Gutenberg text, it is obvious from the author's forward that he was using oral folklore and not wholesale invention. I withdraw my quibble above. alteripse
There is a *lot* of discussion of the roots of the stories. Harris said both that he got the tales from slaves in his youth and that he invented them. I don't know that anyone has found satisfactory African analogs. One thing that is slipping around in my memory, though, is Harris's relationship to Mark Twain, which would be worthy of inclusion. Twain was an unambiguous abolitionist, and I think that he was friends with Harris. I can't be sure enough to make an edit and inclusion, though. On the matter of the trickster tale, it's true that pretty much every mythos has them, but it's not necessary for an African trickster to show up in these tales, because European literature was full of the rube-done-good tales, and in particular southern literature was by the time of Harris. (See, for example, the play that Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated: Our American Cousin.) It was a genre already. Geogre 13:26, 6 Jun 2004 (UTC)
While the Uncle Remus stories are amusing, it doesn't take into account that race relations cast into a comedic form were easier to believe and accept as the real thing. Stafford's 1946 analysis can hardly be viewed as contemporary, according to the inference in the article. Uncle Remus may be exemplary for its capturing the Southern dialect, but there are plenty of late nineteenth fiction with examples of this genre. This contrary sentiment is that this is apologist literature, not merely to justify slavery, but to make the Restoration period - North and South -believe that this was what the South was really like.
- Fox & Lears, The Culture of Consumption
- Stafford, John: Patterns of Meaning in Nights with Uncle Remus", American Literature 18 (May 1946).
--allie 02:16, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Ah. Allie, first let me say that the article did not look like this when I wrote my comment above, nor was I an editor or author of it. In fact, I think that right now it needs considerable mediation for POV. There are several questions that the article can't quite deal with and yet begs.
- Is it African material (a la "Porgie and Bess") stolen by an unscrupulous hack?
- Is the author's intent to portray the "happy darky" (a stereotype in use as late as the 1950's)?
- Do the works deserve a place in the contemporary canon of American literature?
- Has this been a "suppressed" work?
Now, I'm one of those born before 1970, so I know both the books (a compilation of them) and the movie that the original author has said is "uncirculated" now, so I'm not sure that it has been suppressed as a work. However, I am sure that the article as it stands now aggravates matters by almost discussing each of these points, and each from an implied point of view (i.e. "yes, yes, yes, and yes") that is inconsistent. An objective or scholarly removed point of view would be better, but it would mean a direct statement of the issues. I do know that Harris was viewed, in his own day, as no apologist, although he may be an architect of the "happy darky" stereotype. Whether he intended to say that slaves were happy or not, he may have done so simply by trying to suggest that culture on the plantation was not all Simon le Gre and Uncle Tom. Stowe aggravated Southern authors, and Harris implies that her unfamiliarity with actual plantations leads her to betray her own cause. I would be interested in anyone who attempts to rewrite this article in such a way that both sides, or no sides, of these issues is presented. I, however, am no Americanist (18th c. British is my field). Geogre 03:05, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Thank you, your summary is right on target for a more balanced approach. I know that I can't tackle all of these points, but I think I can locate reliable and contemporary source work - as well as someone to take on this challenging task, as well. Comments appreciated and very helpful. --allie 03:36, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Thanks for editing this entry. I had a minor concern about the alleged circulation of this item; I was born in 1979 and have both seen and read the tales in question. What's more is that of 15 of my close (in relationship and age) American friends were all familiar with the work in question. We primarily grew up in Ohio, Minnesota, and North Carolina. The article seems to belittle the influence on popular culture that these tales had, and I am not sure that's completely warranted. Thanks for taking the time to read my (as above, admittedly minor) concern. vajdaij
Allow me to make the point that nearly all languages use terms such as "uncle," "brother," "grandmother," et cetera, regarding strangers, not at all in pejorative reference. I suggest that the use of "uncle" in the context referred to here represents respect, just as does "our American Cousin" in the fourth paragraph above. Uncle Remus and many other so-called "Southern" tales (for example, Little Black Sambo)wrongly draw the race card. Let's cool it on the race thing, which could be applied in some fashion to nearly everything literary. We could just as well condemn most literature (for example, The Scarlet Letter)as being sexist, racist, classist, and so on. Anyway, where are the references here for this entry?
