SOURCE: "Folklore and Literary Art," in Joel Chandler Harris: Folklorist, The University of Georgia Press, 1950, pp. 22-40.

In the following excerpt, Brookes makes a case that Joel Chandler Harris was a literary artist rather than a mere recorder of others' tales.

American folklore began with Uncle Remus, some literary historians declare. Although one may not be able to accept so sweeping a verdict, for in a sense Franklin and Irving were folklorists, the claim for Harris is authentic enough to afford a convenient introduction to this section of the discussion. It is true that Harris's Tar-Baby story, published in The Atlanta Constitution in 1879 and widely read, antedates the organization of the American Folklore Society by nine years. It is true that Joel Chandler Harris was a charter member of the Society when it was founded. Furthermore, the first president of the Society stated in the first issue of...