The Adventures of Brer Rabbit

by Joel Chandler Harris, Ruth Spriggs

Thirty-one tales, retold in modern English, of the crafty, idle, mischief-making rabbit and his wily old acquaintances Brer Fox and Brer Wolf.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Joel Chandler Harris was an American journalist born in Eatonton, Georgia who wrote the Uncle Remus stories, including Uncle Remus; His Songs and His Sayings, The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation, (1880), Nights with Uncle Remus (1881 & 1882), Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892), and Uncle Remus and the Little Boy (1905).

The stories, based on the African-American oral storytelling tradition, were revolutionary in their use of dialect and in featuring a trickster hero called Br'er ("Brother") Rabbit, who uses his wits against adversity, though his efforts do not always succeed. The frog is the trickster character in traditional tales in Central and Southern Africa. The stories, which began appearing in the Atlanta Constitution in 1879, were popular among both Black and White readers in the North and South, not least because they presented an idealized view of race relations soon after the Civil War. The first published Brer Rabbit stories were written by President Theodore Roosevelt's uncle, Robert Roosevelt.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can be tough to get through the idiomatic writing style of Harris but the book gives great insights into the South and the lives of the slaves. The latest edition of this offers some good background to Harris' motivation for gathering these stories and publishing them.