Joel Chandler Harris (1845-1908), was an American fiction writer, folklorist, and a journalist for the Atlanta Constitution. From 1862-1866, Harris served as an apprentice at Turnwold Plantation, in Eatonton, Georgia. While there, he spent much of his leisure time among the slaves of the plantation from whom he learned the storytelling tradition among African Americans whose oral tradition became the basis for his collection of Uncle Remus Tales. Though Harris has been credited for having revolutionized children's literature with his collection of folktales about the post-Reconstruction American South, contemporary critics argue that his rendition of these tales fosters an erroneous and romanticized image of the plantation South.
Our texts cautions that "like other oral forms these tales were originally invented not for the printed page but for the spoken performance. Something vital is lost when we are not at the fireside with Scooter, hearing the sounds, watching the tellers and their tellings, full of whispery asides, silences, dramatic songs, clicks, calls, and other story sounds" (Gates, et al. 131). Read through Joel Chandler Harris' rendering of "The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story" on page 144; then compare it to the performance featured here in the video below. How does Donald Griffin's performance alter, enrich, or detract from your response to the tale of the Tar Baby--particularly in light of critics' assertions about Harris's version?
