On the Plantation: A Story of a Georgia Boy's Adventures during the War

by Joel Chandler Harris

The enduring fame of Joel Harris as a skillful storyteller had its beginning with the publication of the first of his enchanting Uncle Remus stories. These and other local color tales were written to sound as if they were being told to a group of small children on a winter night beside a blazing fireplace of a middle Georgia farmhouse. And ever since his stories first appeared in print, it has yet to be resolved who enjoys them the most--a child or the adult reading them aloud.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1892

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

[EJ Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Influenced by his youthful experiences as a printer's apprentice on Turnwold Plantation near Eatonton, Georgia, Joel Chandler Harris' On the Plantation functions as a roman-a-clef for the author. Harris makes it difficult to determine what is fact or fiction, however, and the narrative itself, tempered by the influence of reality, lacks the unique magic of the Uncle Remus stories. Nevertheless, Harris remains a masterful storyteller, and there is much to be enjoyed in this recounting of plantation life; there are the first mentions, for instance, of the early role the stories of talking critters played in Harris' life and his perspectives on the slaves who first told the tales to him. One might also enjoy the unique perspective on the War Between the States provided by Harris in his capacity as a decidedly New South author.

I would highly recommend this book for fans of the Uncle Remus' stories and Harris' works in general.

[Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story by Harris that is an easy read. A view of Civil War life in Georgia.

[Bellatuscana Bellatuscana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing more than a circusy-looking book that glorifies the old southern days...

[Jamie Aiken]

Read for HIST 8065: History of Georgia