Harris: under the spell of the old town

The people of Eatonton, Georgia were proud of their native son, Joel Chandler Harris, as he rose to literary fame. Best known for his Uncle Remus tales, Harris was then living in Atlanta, in a home he called Wren's Nest. He was some 80 miles from the town of his birth — not so very far, which made it so hard for him to turn down an offer to return to Eatonton. In a letter dated November 12, 1901, he wrote:

I have delayed answering your letter hoping to see my way clear to accepting the invitation which you were kind enough to send me, and which I assure you is very highly appreciated. Though I have been away so many years, I still feel that Eatonton is my home and the people there my best friends. I love them all, so much so that I have never written anything to be published in book form that I did not ask myself if there could be anything in it which my friends there would not approve. Thus, in a way, they have been my most helpful critics. I thank you heartily for the invitation and regret that a pressure of work will prevent me from accepting.

Harris was then working on what would become Gabriel Tolliver, a book which he dedicated to his friend James Whitcomb Riley. He also admitted to Riley that he had allowed the interest of his characters to overshadow the story. Even so, the book was set in Shady Dale, a fictionalized version of Eatonton, which served as an equally important character in Harris's writings.

The book begins not unlike the invitation he received in 1901: "Cephas! here is a letter for you, and it is from Shady Dale! I know you will be happy now." The narrative voice then admits that he far too often spoke of the town of his youth, that his recollections of Shady Dale were "coloured" and that he saw the people only through his "boyhood-eyes." The other character in that opening, Sophia, warns Cephas that if he were to go back, he'd learn they weren't so different from everyone else after all. "This was absurd, of course—or, rather, it would have been absurd for any one else to make the suggestion; for at that particular time, Sophia was a trifle jealous of Shady Dale and its people."

From Gabriel Tolliver's chapter "A Town with a History":

Before, during, and after the war, Shady Dale presented always the same aspect of serene repose. It was, as you may say, a town with a history. Then, as now, there were towns all about that had no such fortunate appendage behind them to explain their origin... Shady Dale is no city, and it may be that its public spirited citizens stretch the meaning of the term when they call it a town. Nevertheless, the community has a well-defined history...

But to set forth its origin is not to describe its beauty, which is of a character that refuses to submit to description... You are inevitably impressed with a sense of the attractiveness of the place; you fall under the spell of the old town... And yet if you were called upon to define the nature of the spell, what could you say? What name could you give to the tremulous beauty that hovers about and around the place, when the fresh green leaves of the great trees are fluttering in the cool wind, and everything is touched and illumined by the tender colours of spring? Under what heading in the catalogue of things would you place the vivid richness which animates the town and the landscape all around when the summer is at its height? And how could you describe the harmony that time has brought about between the fine, old houses and the setting in which they are grouped?

All these things are elusive; they make themselves keenly felt, but they do not lend themselves to analysis.

Harris: Ole Satun is loose

Joel Chandler Harris was not among the first American authors to write with an authentic dialect, nor was he the first to try it out in the form of vernacular poetry. Nevertheless, the Georgia-born author is remembered for his "Uncle Remus" stories employing the style which defined him. His first attempt at dialect in poetry is "Revival Hymn," published in the Constitution for January 18, 1877. It was soon reprinted, particularly in Southern newspapers, occasionally with the variation on the title "Revival Song," and was later set to music. It also inspired at least one attempt at a copy of the style but the critics quickly judged it as sub-par to Harris's own work.

Oh, whar shill we go w'en de great day comes,
Wid de blowin' er de trumpits en de bangin' er de drums?
How many po' sinners'll be kotched out late
En fine no latch ter de golden gate?
No use fer ter wait twel ter-morrer!
De sun musn't set on yo' sorrer,
Sin's ez sharp ez a bamboo-brier—
Oh, Lord! fetch de mo'ners up higher!

W'en de nashuns er de earf is a stan'in all aroun,
Who's a gwineter be choosen fer ter w'ar de glory-crown?
Who's a gwine fer ter stan' stiff-kneed en bol'
En answer to der name at de callin' er de roll?
You better come now ef you comm—
Ole Satun is loose en a bummin'—
De wheels er distruckshun is a hummin'—
Oh, come long, sinner, ef you comin'!

De song er salvashun is a mighty sweet song,
En de Pairidise win' blow fur en blow strong,
En Aberham's bosom, hit's saft en hit's wide,
En right dar's de place whar de sinners oughter hide!
Oh, you nee'nter be a stoppin' en a lookin';
Ef you fool wid ole Satun you'l git took in;
Youil hang on de aidge en get shook in,
Ef you keep on a stoppin' en a lookin'.

De time is right now, en dish yer's de place—
Let de sun er salvashun shine squar' in yo' face;
Fight de battles er de Lord, fight soon en fight late,
En you'll allers fine a latch ter de golden gate.
No use fer ter wait twel ter-morrer,
De sun musn't set on yo' sorrer—
Sin's ez sharp ez a bamboo-brier,
Ax de Lord fer ter fetch you up higher!

* For information in this post, I am particularly indebted to Brer Rabbit, Uncle Remus, and the 'Cornfield Journalist': The Tale of Joel Chandler Harris (2000) by Walter M. Brasch.

Thus it was that Rockville had its romance

Joel Chandler Harris's first attempt at extended fiction was serialized in 1878; its last installment was supposed to be published on September 24 in the Weekly Constitution. It never was, and Harris left the final chapter unwritten. Like many of his works, The Romance of Rockville was set in his home state of Georgia. "To write accurately or even adequately of Rockville," Chandler's story begins, "one would have to fall into an idyllic mood." By then, Harris had published only one tale featuring the character of Uncle Remus — a character he did not intend to use again.

The Romance of Rockville is considered a forgettable early failure of Harris. In fact, even the author himself became bored of the story and, by its end, allowed the story to lose focus. He missed his deadline for the final installment; in its place, he published a note that the story would conclude in the next issue, September 24. He never bothered writing it. Perhaps one line in what unintentionally became the final chapter — "Thus it was that Rockville had its romance, though to some of the principal actors it appeared to be a dream." —  may have been a reference to Harris himself.

As it was serialized, however, Harris reconsidered his Uncle Remus character. Within a few months, he wrote "The Story of Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Fox as Told by Uncle Remus." It was that character, related in the tradition of oral storytelling, which made Harris famous.

Birth of Joel Chandler Harris

Joel Chandler Harris was born on December 9, 1848 in Eatonton, Georgia. His father, whose identity remains unknown, was never married to Harris's mother and abandoned them both shortly after. A prominent local doctor took pity on the young mother and offered a small cottage for her and her son on his own estate. She supported her son by sewing and gardening — and by encouraging him to read.

Harris joined the world of publishing at age 16 as a printing compositor for a plantation-based newspaper named The Countryman. He soon began writing book reviews, poetry, and humorous prose, the latter under the name "The Countryman's Devil." It was here, working at a plantation, that Harris began listening to the stories told by  African slaves. Those stories were the basis of his own works of fiction, folk tales featuring the character "Uncle Remus." The stories were widely republished, making Harris a household name (or, at least, his characters — including Brer Rabbit).

Later in his life, in 1892, he published a mostly-fictionalized autobiographical novel, On the Plantation: A Story of a Georgia Boy's Adventures during the War. In his introductory note, he warns "that which is fiction pure and simple in these pages bears to me the stamp of truth, and that which is true reads like a clumsy invention." Harris then asks his readers to "sift the fact from the fiction" as it suits him. True or not, the protagonist of the book, Joe Maxwell, finds himself working for The Countryman on a plantation in Georgia, just like Harris (and soon shares a positive interaction with a slave). Here's how he describes his office:

The printing-office... was a very small affair; the type was old and worn, and the hand-press... had seen considerable service. But it was all new to Joe, and the fact that he was to become a part of the machinery aroused in his mind the most delightful sensations...

The one queer feature about The Countryman was the fact that it was the only plantation newspaper that has ever been published... It might be supposed that such a newspaper would be a failure; but The Countryman was a success from the start, and at one time it reached a circulation of nearly two thousand copies.

*Recommended reading: The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit as well as Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study (2008) by R. Bruce Bickley, Jr.