Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings

by Joel Chandler Harris, Robert Hemenway (Introduction)

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 represented the voice of the narrators and their subculture. For this choice of framing, his collection has encountered controversy.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Childrens, Folklore, Literature, Fantasy, Short Stories

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1881

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

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay I know, before I even start this that there are already a TON of people who are morally opposed to this book on the grounds that it is racially derrogatory. I happen to disagree. As a child of the south, I grew up hearing all the Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox stories and they have not damaged me or caused me to be an evil racially hateful woman. I consider when they were written and realize that the stories are wonderfully imaginative and teach a moral lesson at the heart of each one. I remember seeing the movie Uncle Remus in the theater when I was a child. I did not care what color he was. I loved the stories. The stories could have been told by a purple alien with ten eyes and I still would have loved the stories.

Having said that- I love this book. My children have the stories and they love them. They always have loved the tar baby story and wanted me to read it every night. If you are interested in colorful stories that are sometimes a little hard to decipher if you don't know how to listen in your head to the dialogue, then please check this one out while you can.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and although I've seen portions of the movie here in the states I don't think I've ever seen the whole thing and last I heard never will. Its sad if you ask me because it depends on what you choose to focus on and if you focus on the fact it places slavery in a good light which I've heard some say it does then yeah that's not good. But if you decide to focus on the relationship that children who happen to be white have with Uncle Remus who happens to be black (sort of a Grandfather figure is what I got) then its a good movie. Lets focus on the book shall we, if you've ever heard of Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby then that's just one of the stories in this book. According to the Introduction this is a collection of Stories passed down by Negroes in the South and to preserve the original simplicity its written in dialect or rather its written the way the ones telling the stories tend to pronounce words, the author comments about the fact it may not actually qualify as a dialect. Reading in dialect can sometimes be a bit confusing but if done well it adds to the story. Uncle Remus is definitely a fun read one I highly recommend if you've heard any of the Bre'r Animal tells that Disney has done and enjoyed them.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read

I’ve wanted to pick this up for some time, I’m glad I finally did. The book took some getting used to as the dialect is difficult to read straight from the page. I found myself whisper reading to make sense of what was on the page. Unfortunately I feel like I missed some of the tales due to the fact that the dialect wasn’t easy to decipher. I know there is controversy around this book, but the language seems fitting for the time it was produced. The fact that this was written allows these oral tales to not be lost for coming generations.

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This can be a hard read but I found that if I read it aloud or at least at a whisper I can make more sense of it. Nothing much is humorous but supposedly written by Harris exactly as he heard them does give historical value to the old south folklore tales. 3.5 stars

[Garrett Cash · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Uncle Remus says about his brand of syrup, "Dis sho' am good."
Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings is a fascinating read that splits opinions like no other. On the one hand you have people saying things like:

“As the racial stereotypes of the nineteenth century are inappropriate today and may be offensive to many contemporary readers, we have eliminated [...] Uncle Remus.”

Then you have the other side saying “Uncle Remus [...] is revealed as a secret hero of [Joel Chandler] Harris‘s work, a figure wholly worthy of comparison with Brer Rabbit himself. In creating him, Harris put forward, covertly, by extraordinarily oblique means, a vision that would have shocked and horrified the great majority of his readers, had they understood him.”
- Robert Cochran: Professor of English and Director of the Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies at the University of Arkansas.

Which one of these opinions is the "correct" one? Is Uncle Remus a nostalgic look at the "happy old plantation negro?" Or is he a "remarkably nuanced character who consistently subverted white authority and Old South social codes?" That would the opposite of a racial stereotype right? This argument has already been made to perfection on the Wren's Nest blog in an article titled Everything You Know About Uncle Remus is Wrong.

Now for the quality of the book itself. Mark Twain loved them so much he read them to his children and at his book readings. He said that the “Wonderful Tar-Baby Story” was the most popular (the links in this review are to the online text of the actual stories). That's quite an endorsement. Children's literature analyst John Goldthwaite argues that the Uncle Remus tales are "irrefutably the central event in the making of modern children's story." Harris's influence on British children's writers such as Kipling, Milne, Potter, Burgess and Blyton is substantial. His influence on modernism is less overt, but also evident in the works of Pound, Eliot, Joyce, and Faulkner.

Reading the stories is somewhat challenging due to the dialect which can get the reader lost in the vernacular. It's best to read these stories aloud, where one can savor Harris' genius way of the word and not get lost. Some of these stories are actually quite violent and shocking. This is no revelation to fans of folk tales, but it's still a bit baffling considering Uncle Remus's popularity as children's literature. The main stories in question are those that involve Brer Rabbit killing one of his rivals.

One gets the idea from Disney's Song of the South that Brer Rabbit is just a happy go-lucky trickster who just likes to pull a prank. In Harris's stories Brer Rabbit comes off as a horrible jerk, who causes the deaths of at least four of the characters that I can remember in the stories. The saddest one of these is Brer Possum in "Mr. Rabbit Nibbles Up the Butter." Brer Rabbit steals all of the butter and frames Brer Possum. Brer Possum suggests that they build a fire, and whoever can't jump over it is the chap who stole the butter. I'm not quite sure why Brer Possum would suggest such a thing that would be incredibly easy for the Fox and Rabbit. Unfortunately Brer Possum doesn't make it and he lands right in the middle of the "fier" and dies. The way the Fox dies is possibly the most bizarre, but I won't spoil it.

Reading these stories now, while still being hilarious, are still hard to read with a politically correct modern mind. I find it easier to read these stories being that I am a native English speaker, a historian, and someone who doesn't think the intention of the stories was to be racist in any way. If you are anything but these things, I would just stick to trying out the "Wonderful Tar-Baby Story" and "How Mr. Rabbit was too sharp for Mr. Fox." You'll get the big picture.

While Harris's dialect may be difficult for the more modern mind, for those that can enjoy these stories they are really quite a treat. Words like "seegyar" (cigar) and "kyarving knife" (carving knife) are fun not only for their comic value but for reveling in Harris's creativity in getting all of these words on paper. The songs are good, the sayings are a bit boring and uninteresting really.

Uncle Remus may not be for everyone, but there are certainly those who will enjoy hearing the tales of Brer Rabbit and his company. Uncle Remus: His Songs and Saying is a learning experience for anyone young and old.

4.5

[ნინო ქერდიყოშვილი · Rating 2 out of 5]

ვიფიქრე,დღეს რომელიმე კეთილ წიგნს წავიკითხავ-მეთქი :დ ავარჩიე ბიძია რემუსის ზღაპრები, ჰოდა, კომბლეზე რა გითხრათ,მაგრამ ამ ზღაპრებმა იმედები გამიცრუა :| არანაირი სიკეთე ;დ მხოლოდ და მხოლოდ ტყუილი,ცბიერება,ძალადობა,გამორჩენის მცდელობა და ა.შ. და ა.შ. ;დ მოკლედ მაპატიე,ჯოელ ჰარის ,მაგრამ იმდენი კეთილი და სიბრძნით დატვირთული ზღაპარია სამყაროში, რომ რა გითხრა? რით გაგახარო?

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was curious to read this, particularly in light of Alice Walker's assertion that these stories made her ashamed to be black. I get it, but the stories, songs & sayings are interesting from the perspective of a certain time & place & viewpoint; I think the author meant well.

[Thomas Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get past the politically incorrect language, there is a lot of wisdom in these simple stories.

[James Carrigy · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/10

Robert Hemenway's introduction (the only thing worth reading in this accursed tome), neatly lays out the inherent tension in a work in which African-American folklore, borne out of ancestral traditions and an oppressed state of existence, is read from the mouth of a literary creation intended to offer up to white audiences a neutered stereotype used to espouse a mythologised image of the Antebellum South, for the purposes of propping up the white supremacist idealogy which Jim Crow was built on. Needless to say, I can't say I much rate this book.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a charming collection of stories of talking animals especially Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox that get into various scrapes, similar to Aesop's Fables, told by old Uncle Remus to a little boy long ago - in the "mythical" South. The illustrations are great! This is the book for anyone who's ever wondered about the clever Brer Rabbit (similar to Roadrunner or the Rascally Rabbit cartoon characters in evading capture). Readers of any age will enjoy it!

A few words about each story (hopefully without totally giving away each story's plot):

Brer Fox invites Brer Rabbit to dinner. The Fox is constantly trying to figure out ways to nab the Rabbit and thus turn him into dinner. This is yet another instance of the Fox's faulty plotting - this time, he pretends to be sick, but the Rabbit sees right through the ruse. The wonderful interactions among the animal community - mirroring the human tendency to gossip - is part of this and many other of the Brer Rabbit stories.

The Wonderful Tar Baby - This is the famous story of the Fox once again trying to catch the rabbit. Although Brer Fox does create a wonderful tar baby, to which the Rabbit gets stuck, in the next story,

The Briar Patch - The Rabbit as usual manages to out-smart the fox... in a very droll, entertaining way!

In The Story of the Flood, a number of crayfish begin protesting because the elephant has inadvertently flattened a few crayfish by stepping on them. That was when creatures like the crayfish, the mud turtle and the lizards began boring into the ground to get away from the land animals.

Brer Fox and Old Man Terrapin - The Fox comes upon the Terrapin and thinks to make a meal of the turtle. Once again, Brer Fox is out-smarted!

Brer Wolf makes a Failure - In this story, Brer Wolf conspires with Brer Fox to catch Brer Rabbit once and for all. However, the Rabbit once again sees through the ploy and manages to evade becoming the dinner of the wolf and fox. The Fox this time plays dead in order to lure the Rabbit into his home, but the Rabbit sees through the plot.

The Sad Fate of Brer Wolf - In this story, the Wolf has been raiding Brer Rabbit's home regularly and making off with Rabbit's children, one by one, each time he raids the ramshackle structure. Finally, Rabbit is determined to build a solid home, from which the wolf cannot snatch any more baby rabbits - and hires beavers to do the work of laying a stone foundation upon which to build a plank home. He even builds a basement room to which the children can escape, if there is a break-in by the Wolf. Sure enough, the Wolf does get into the house, by means of a ruse he thinks is clever. However, Brer Rabbit again outsmarts the Wolf - tea-time for the Wolf was more than energizing, and the Wolf will probably never try to raid Brer Rabbit's home again.

Brer Rabbit Finds his Match at Last - Brer Terrapin's family (all of whom look like one another) teams up to ensure Brer Terrapin wins the foot race with Brer Rabbit and the $50 prize money. Moral of the story: Animals started cheating and then it spread to humans. Advice of Uncle Remus to little boy: "...mind your eye, honey, that somebody don't cheat you before you is as old as me."

A Story about the Little Rabbits - A story about Brer Fox dropping by Brer Rabbit's house one day when both parents were away, and despite all his efforts to nab the little rabbits, he once again fails. A little bird gives helpful hints to the little rabbits and then Brer Rabbit himself shows up.

A Dollar a Minute - Brer Rabbit is finally trapped by a rope trap Brer Fox has set up near his peanut patch. But the rabbit manages to escape by convincing Brer Bear to take his place in the air, since he is supposedly making a dollar a minute protecting the peanuts. Brer Rabbit then gets Brer Fox and Brer Fox to start fighting each other as he once again evades the fox and bear by impersonating a frog in a mud-hole when Brer Bear comes along looking for Brer Rabbit.

Brer Rabbit spills the Honey - Brer Rabbit ransacks the home of Brer Bear while the bear family is out. Unfortunately the rabbit knocks over a bucket of honey and becomes totally drenched in the sticky fluid. He tries to get the honey off his body by rolling around in the woods - but the leaves just keep sticking to him. He creates a sensation in his "suit" of leaves - even frightening off the entire Bear family, Brer Fox and Brer Wolf!

Brer Rabbit frightens his neighbors - Brer Rabbit goes to town to buy tin cups, plates and a tea pot in exchange for his peanut crop. However, his arch enemies, Brer Fox and Brer Wolf, conspire to ambush the rabbit on his return. Brer Rabbit is tipped off to the trap by a tiny woodpecker and decides to frighten his would-be assailants by rigging himself up with the tin plates, cups and tea pot. The frightened fox and wolf take to their heels when confronted with the clanging creature.

Why Brer Bear has no tail - A story about Brer Terrapin and Mr. Mud-Turtle sliding down an inclined moss covered rock to amuse themselves as Brer Rabbit looks on. Then Brer Bear happens upon the trio and decides to join in the fun basically on a dare- unfortunately, his tail is too long to slide down the rock, and that is why bears have no tail (ouch!).

[Lani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had read a few of the Brer Rabbit stories as a kid; this collection included not just the Brer Animal stories, but also all of the (even more) terribly offensive Uncle Tom stories of Uncle Remus. I have an affection for the Brer stories, and also see some value in their place as American 'Aesop's Fables'. Morality tales couched in animal form that are fun, silly, and still a little creepy.

That said, the collection is difficult to read due to the dialect, and once you've made it through the children's stories, you get bogged down in old negro hymns and more folksy wisdom from Uncle Remus. These stories are even more cringe-inducing to the modern ear and include jokes hinging on Uncle Remus's love of watermelon and his support of his white family, his former masters.

I haven't studied the time period enough to say whether the book offers any historical value. If it is an accurate chronicle of some experience - for example if the stories, songs, and wisdom are actually black folktales that are not written elsewhere - then I can appreciate the book. Unfortunately, I think more of it is a white-washed 'idealized' black existence based around stereotypes that were only perpetuated by this book becoming a classic. That's a shame particularly because I think that it diminishes the Brer stories. As some have suggested (again, not sure if this is entirely accurate), many of the stories themselves are reflective of plantation life and storytelling, but the encompassing story of Uncle Remus is the creation of Joel Chandler Harris. In that case there is also some concern with a white author co-opting these tales to be packaged, sold, and branded as "his" creations for posterity.

The whole book suffers from its history and it makes even the simplest stories an uncomfortable read when considering the context.

[Jen Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for my grad-level folklore class, so my approach to the book was predominantly critical. However, I was surprised by the intricacy of the tales and genuinely enjoyed many of them. Brer Rabbit is an authentic Afro-American figure, evolved from the the trickster hare character of African folktales. Slaves found revolutionary recourse embodied in this ever-cunning underdog. Brer Rabbit is no goody-goody; he is possibly one of the first real bad-asses to grace the American folklore canon.

Nevertheless, while the folktales themselves are valuable in terms of their authenticity, the character of Uncle Remus, ultimately a construction of white author Joel Chandler Harris, delivered a gift-wrapped stereotype that mainstream American culture has yet to shake off. For Reconstruction-era white Southerners, who were anxious about reprisal from freed black slaves, Uncle Remus hit a serious sweet spot. Remus doesn't want retribution for hundreds of years of oppression. All he wants to do is perform menial labor and tell stories to white children. In fact, he looks back nostalgically on his slavery days. He has nothing but praise for his former masters. Much of the reason Remus became popular was his ability to magically alleviate white America's fear and guilt.

In all, this book is a fascinating and problematic artifact of its time. It may have done a service by bringing these folktales into the mainstream, but its framework (including the Uncle Remus character and his cultural context) should be read with critical and historical awareness.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this book a higher rating than just three stars. The folk-tales themselves are wonderful and culturally significant classic trickster tales that, to quote the introduction by Robert Hemenway, "symbolically inverted the slave - master relationship and satisfied the deep human needs of a captive people". Brer Rabbit is a survivor, the Fabled Hare, a symbol of endurance and the triumph of the underdog over his big brutish oppressors. In other words, NOT RACIST.

However, Joel Harris did not understand the deeper meaning of these stories, and only saw Brer Rabbit's misadventures as silly nonsensical tales meant only to entertain children. He stripped these classic figures of almost all of their dignity, bogging down their words with that atrocious 'pidgin-speak' and cutesifying them almost beyond recognition.

However, in spite of all the pidgin-speak and the extremely outdated/insulting framing device of an ex-slave storyteller who actually didn't think being a slave was "all that bad" (Brer Rabbit is not a racist character, but Uncle Remus most certainly is), my three-star rating still stands. In spite of Harris's bastardization and complete misunderstanding of the importance of these stories, the stories themselves still manage to retain some of their dignity. Again, Brer Rabbit is a survivor, and the universal appeal of the conquering Trickster Hero shines through, even through the mess of Joel Chandler Harris's post-Civil War racism.

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, no doubt in a different edition, was read to my class throughout the school year by our beloved second grade teacher, Miss Speer.

The stories were read to us with love, and we loved hearing them. I doubt that there is a sixty-something from that class today, who doesn't remember fondly those Uncle Remus stories, read to us with such enthusiasm (and in dialect) by our dear teacher; and the life lessons that we learned from the delightful tales of Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and the rest.

How sad that the Uncle Remus Stories were later criticized as racist, though I think that controversy may be less heated today. Back in the fifties, neither my neighborhood nor my school was ethnically diverse, but we children saw Uncle Remus only as a wise and kindly mentor who told a heck of a good story.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was uncomfortable with coloquial language from a racially charged time of history, but as I read on (with some difficulty understanding the pronunciation), I came to value this as folk art and history that has a timeless quality. The introduction by the author is very informative and adds to the value of this book with its 1880 copyright.

My copy is old, 1919, and well may have been the one read to my father in the '20s. However, is is signed by a child with some scribbled designs, by a name I don’t recognize. I'm not sure how I came by this copy.

[Jon Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes a bit of work to read since it is written in a Southern dialect, but I found reading it out loud helped. Wonderful stories that are a part of the American tapestry and tend to transport the reader back to that thine and place.

[J.E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend this edition. Robert Hemenway's 1981 introduction not only sets the problematic racist element in context, but shows how accurately Harris captured the black folk tales, some with their origins in Africa. Still an important contribution to American literature.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had heard of the Brer Rabbit story but I had no idea there is a whole bunch of these stories. These animals were either easily tricked or super cunning in every tale. You have to be on the lookout for tricksters if you live here:)

[Aya Vandenbussche · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has taken me a long time to write a review for this book that I have finished reading a while ago. I should point out that I listened to the audiobook and I admit it has left me somewhat stumped. But perhaps not quite as stumped as I felt after reading some of the reviews on here and coming face to face with some of the ignorance regarding Harris and the subject matter.

It is true that Joel Chandler Harris had a significant role in the documentation of the Afro-American folktales and putting them into writing. His books, for good or bad, have brought attention to these tales. His use of what he thought was 'authentic' dialect and slang in his writing is definitely interesting if not somewhat problematic. Whether these stories would have been lost without him, I cannot say other than looking into this I am not convinced they would have. It is not a far stretch to think that we should be grateful for slavery for creating those folktales.

It is important to note that Harris was a problematic figure and a supporter of slavery, even if it was a 'liberal' kind of slavery. He romanticised the South and its values, which included slavery. He is considered to be a prominent spokesman of the 'uncle Ben and aunt Jemima' type of view of slaves. He ignored, most likely on purpose, the contradiction between the extreme violence and insanity of the stories, attributing them to 'the roaring wild nature of the animal kingdom' and his romantic view of the South and slavery.

Furthermore, he was highly misguided and quite single-minded. He was convinced he had a 'hotline' to the life of the Afro-American folktale and that his and his alone were the 'authentic' and true stories. Despite researcher, even in his time, pointed out that some of the stories he documented, most notably the famous Tar Baby story, did not and could not have originated in Africa, but rather in India, possibly America, or Europe. There is some mistral aspect to Harris too, he prided himself on his ability to speak in the same accent and dialect as the African-Americans and often spoke in this way in real life. He wanted to be identified as uncle Ramous and often sign his letters as him. Most importantly perhaps, Harris has taken what were meant to be adult stories, for Black people and turned them into children's stories for white children. It is this, I think, that brought Alice Walker, author of The Colour Purple, to accuse him of stealing her heritage.

Many of the reviews on here consider these stories a piece of history, which I think is as misguided as Harris himself was. This is not a history, this is a point of view about a history. I would not recommend reading these stories out of context, or without background. The language and dialect are difficult and to modern ears could sound even offensive. After listening to this book that has left me confused and uncomfortable, I was loaned another book Annotated African American Tales. This book is an in-depth overview of African-American folktales. This book has a clear distinction between folktales that originated in Africa and those that were told by the African-American slaves. It gives a lot of background to the legends and has a whole section about Joel Chandler Harris, it includes his notable stories. It is thanks to this book that I learned, for example, that there were hundreds of Tar Baby stories, only one version is told by Harris. The Annotated African American is a better book, better researched and really interesting. Thankfully, we live in a time where we don't have to and we shouldn't rely on Joel Joseph Harris and his worldview to get to know these interesting stories. I would recommend reading those books instead.

A little note about the stories themselves, despite Harris' best effort to make them seem like they are for kids, they are not. They are extremely violent and brutal. It is part of what is interesting about them. But while the Annotated book provides context to this extreme and often seemingly unjustified brutality (the rabbit attacks innocent animals as well as those who are trying to kill it), the Uncle Remus books do not.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve got mixed feelings about this book - on one side I feel like it’s been severely misunderstood probably by people who never read it like most books that attract the wrath of folks. It’s simply a collection of folk stories told by enslaved people in America and the stories are fascinating and deceptively simple like folk tales usually are. The themes are mostly how those with little or no power (rabbit, turtle) triumph over the powerful and predatory (bear, fox, wolf) - how weakness can be a strength and cunning can win over cruel. The stories have links back to Africa and other ancient societies and have found their way all around the world into different societies with many of the core details intact. As a cultural work it’s definitely worth reading and most the stories have zero problematic themes or details.

On top of that the writer who researched and collected these stories states his goal which is to give voice to the powerful beautiful and artistic story-telling culture of enslaved black Americans and counteract what he says is the terrible devaluing minstrel shows which denigrated black Americans and treated them as buffoons rather than old sages worth listening to. So any use of the book to denigrate black folks directly misuses the book.

However, and that’s a big however - the language is obviously cringy as a white author writes in mostly a fake “black” speaking style and uses the n word a few times. The story of how black folks got black skin sounds like a joke some old racist uncle would tell over and over at family reunions and roll with laughter even if this wasn’t the authors intent by including it in the collection. And for me this is one of the most powerful realities of the book - you have an author who genuinely wants to amplify the value of black Americans and is disgusted by the racism of his day. And yet the world he lives in is so throughly soaked in racism and caste system values that even the “good ones” like him weren’t fully clean from the toxic realities of his day. That seems like a great place to start a conversation about race and racism in American culture even today when so many of us can easily feel like we’re free from things we really aren’t.

It’s a complex book because of the context it was written in that still continues in many ways - however I don’t feel like writing it off recognizes the significance of the attempt and maybe reveals a bit of “chronological snobbery” as the writer CS Lewis refers to the impulse of one generation to strictly judge previous generations by ethics and morals they have grown into which weren’t pervasive back when they weren’t on the scene yet. Anyway - if I’ve missed something egregious please comment and let me know.

[Jason Albaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

An explanation is in order for this review. I’ve wanted to read Uncle Remus for a long time, and for the most part, I’m happy I read it. The Br’er Rabbit stories in the beginning of the book were great fun in a nostalgic I-grew-up-with-these sort of way. The racist tropes were way more apparent as an adult. The problem I had was that I sought out the official first 1881 Uncle Remus volume shown here. Br’er Rabbit and his friends were only the first part, and then it was followed by Remus’ songs, sayings, and stories. The songs and sayings were fine but totally forgettable, kind of like a placard in a museum that you read and then forget before you leave the room. The stories get increasingly pointless and tedious. Where the dialect in the Br’er Rabbit stories was quaint, even though it was problematic, the dialect in the second half becomes harder to get through and reveals deep seated racism. By the end of the book, I was pushing myself to get through each story, and the last story left me physically cringing. I would happily read more Br’er Rabbit, but I doubt I’ll be finishing a full volume of Harris’ Uncle Remus works.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn’t find the Audible edition so just picked this one.

Please note that these stories have non-PC language but if you know anything about Uncle Remus you knew that already. I grew up with the telling of the tar baby story. It was on a Disney record that I listened to over and over as a very young child. So I thought I would give the other stories a go too. There were some that I had heard but didn’t know that they were from the Uncle Remus collection and others that I hadn’t heard at all. Overall, this is a piece of history and the author of these stories grew up working on a plantation where he spent most of his off time in the slave quarters. Joel Chandler Harris published his first Uncle Remus book in 1881 in hopes to share the traditional African-American folk culture of the Civil War era. He had felt a connection with the story tellers and wanted to preserve their stories, language, and dialects. It gives a bit of insight into their world like the hymns and other songs/stories from that period. The narration is good and authentic for the time period, I am guessing, but was difficult for me in the beginning. Once I had time to adjust, it was easy to follow.

[Ronald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm somewhat ambivalent about Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings, with the bulk of my feelings weighing toward the negative side of the spectrum. In the 21st century, this book can be tough to get through, for (at least) two reasons: (1) the dialect; and, more significantly, (2) the racism. Perhaps the figure of Uncle Remus served a laudable goal (such as humanizing blacks in the eyes of whites in the years immediately following the Civil War). I don't know. Today, however, the cartoonish Uncle Remus serves no purpose beyond standing as an historical artifact.

The Brer Rabbit tales themselves are fascinating and fun. I wish that they were available in a better form.

Today, the value of Harris's book primarily consists of its representation of how some people thought, and what many people enjoyed reading, in the late 19th century. With that in mind, I really can't recommend this book to anyone as a book to enjoy today.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I‘ve had a beautiful 1921 copy of this book on my shelf for years, so I finally decided I should read it. I actually opted to listen to the audiobook while I followed along. I do recommend the audiobook! The heavy written dialect is difficult to follow, so the audio helps with that. I felt like I was sitting at Uncle Remus’s feet, listening to his tales. And, I loved the warm laughter in the reader’s voice!

I understand that there are many people who are opposed to this book. I get it, and there are parts that are hard to read/hear. I hate that “n-word” as much as you do, and it‘s hard to stomach it. There are some brief mentions of heavy-handed owners and cruelty as well. Please don’t let that keep you from the richness of the storytelling. The majority of this book is a nod to the oral tradition of storytelling and time spent with those of different generations, upbringings, and experiences. It is a collection of folktales, many of which I was already familiar.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not what you think - the stereotyping of the faithful former slave to his master belittled by his simple storytelling and dialect as made popular by children's books and Disney. The author, Joel Chandler Harris, was a white journalist who grew up hearing stories, songs, poems and former-slave dialect. Interested in language, Harris wanted to conduct a linguistic study and record/save for posterity the stories and the specific dialect of the people around him. Granted, it is a white man recording black dialect and does contain biases of white people of privilege (portrayed through the dialogue between Remus and some of the whites he converses with) of the time, but for those interested in language, it is worth the time to read it.

As a side note, Harris was not happy with how his book was presented and distorted. He never claimed to be anything but a journalist interested in the specifics of language.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Historical Classic

I should clarify right at the first that I am one that generally loves the classics and historically based and placed books. This classic book however doesn't really fulfill it's purpose for creation nearly as well as most of the others have. The author tauts it as bringing to light the story telling of the African Americans of his day while trying to defend slavery (it even tries to surmise that Uncle Tom's Cabin was actually defending slave owners). I do appreciate the all too brief looks into how the stories came to be or changed according to different areas. I wish there had been more explanations and I also think the language could have been at least a little bit normalized (I could have them read it much faster and understood everything), but still, it was cool to read their stories about the flood and the origin of mankind among other things.

[Hannah Goodwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uncle Remus contains thirty five legends a, songs and stories about life on the plantation and the war. The stories throughout the book discuss a variety of topics using animals and more. The strengths of the novel is the precise and well written language. Throughout the stories the vocabulary is child friendly and simplistic enough for children to use. This allows children to become intrigued with the stories. The language is also not proper english therefore young children may find them hilarious and entertaining. The weakness would be that the book is quite long and may be harder for younger children to read as well as the intense subject matter of slavery that may be to controversial o talk about in a younger classroom. Overall, the book is fun and creative especially for young children and elementary aged children to learn about African American history in a friendly and creative memory.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

We remember Harris only because he put Black people's stories to paper at a time when these folk narratives existed almost exclusively as oral tales. [I say almost exclusively as I would not be surprised if Black authors prior to Harris recorded these stories without the fame afforded to Harris.] Appropriation and Harris's inability to fathom Black people's humanity outside of a master/slave dichotomy in a white-washed South make everything outside of these stories horribly out-of-touch with reality. This is the work Disney's Song of the South is based on. One need not read much of this book to understand why Disney distances themselves from the film. [The Preface in my edition is also outdated as it mostly praises Harris and Uncle Remus in a way that I cannot fathom any scholar qualified to comment on African American cultural texts would do in 2021.]

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uncle Remus is a kindly story-telling African-American servant staying on post-War at his plantation and entertaining a young white child with stories about feral animals. The stories themselves revolve around Brer Rabbit, who cleverly eludes various forms of death or torture by his would-be predators Brer Fox and Brer Wolf.

Many of these folk-tales have become part of Americana, including the Uncle Remus framing story. Do the stories stand the test of time and provide good reading today? No. Harris is too devoted to his affectionate phonetic portrayal of Uncle Remus's thick dialect. The result is text that is difficult to get through and understand. The subject matter is also uncomfortably violent and macabre.

Use of the "n" word in this and another iconic work of similar vintage (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) presents a problem all unto itself. In both works, the word is usually meant in a kindly way, and without the contemporary connotation of an unspeakably offensive slur. If you are obliged to read either work aloud, you have my permission to substitute the word "feller" or if necessary in context "black feller." It is friendly-sounding and more in keeping with the authors' intended tone.

Yes, you're welcome.

[MySmallReadingCorner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for a research paper for school and I have to say that it was a struggle. I enjoyed the book for the parts where I could understand it, but the English was so hard (I didn't read this exact edition but one from 1880 so that probably made it hard, or just the fact that English isn't my native language so English with a dialect is kind of a nightmare at times). I did read through a little summary or analysis of one of the chapters (had to highlight it in my paper so I wanted to make sure that I fully understood it) and that was quite interesting so I might go back to this book if I can find a modern version of it.