Told by Uncle Remus: New Stories of the Old Plantation

by Joel Chandler Harris

Sixteen tales of Brer Rabbit and his friends as told by Uncle Remus to the grandson of his master.

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1905

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

[Chuck Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel good having read this classic from 1903, but I feel it did not live up to the reputation that had been in my mind. The picture into the past is invaluable, but the stories within the story are not as edifying as I'd hoped, and the story itself, regarding character building, also lacked meat or substance.

[Walter Five · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sequel to the original Stories of Uncle Remus, the little boy who Uncle Remus told those tales has grown up; these are the tales that Uncle Remus tells to that man's son.