In her 2008 biography of Potter, A Life in Nature, Linda Lear notes that while the author’s “first audience was British”, her work was strongly influenced by Harris – “whose Brer Rabbit stories she had loved as a child”.
BEATRIX POTTER BIOGRAPHY PATCH
Brer Rabbit is a cunning trickster who lives in a briar (bramble) patch and outwits larger animals using his brains rather than his brawn. Harris created a fictional African American narrator for his stories, Uncle Remus, whose name became the popular title for his collections. The stories were first adapted for a white audience in the late 19th century by the American journalist and folklorist Joel Chandler Harris. The tales of Brer Rabbit can be traced back to pre-colonial Africa, from where they were transported to the plantations of America by enslaved people. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges. The Insights team generates long-form journalism derived from interdisciplinary research.
This article is part of Conversation Insights While rereading another collection of children’s stories featuring the “trickster hero” Brer Rabbit – for my own book on how these folktales were introduced to North America by enslaved Africans – it became clear to me that the similarities between Beatrix Potter’s tales and the Brer Rabbit stories demand further consideration. In these letters she wrote and illustrated stories featuring her pet rabbit, Peter Piper.Īs a scholar of folktales and postcolonial literature, however, I spend a lot of time tracing the roots of stories and examining the impact of colonial legacies on them. It is popularly held that Potter conceived of her tales in 1893, while writing to the sickly son of her friend and former governess, Annie Moore. The author was a frontrunner to appear on the UK’s latest £20 note, but was beaten by the painter J.M.W. Heralded as Britain’s best-loved children’s author, Potter received much praise for her originality as well as her artistic and literary skills during her lifetime, and these “thoroughly English” tales continue to captivate young readers all over the world. Peter’s home is the Lake District in north-west England, among ancient stone walls and picturesque rolling hedgerows that crisscross emerald fields.
BEATRIX POTTER BIOGRAPHY SERIES
Originally published in 1902, the Tale of Peter Rabbit – the first of 23 tales in the series – has since been translated into more than 45 languages and sold over 45 million copies.
Peter Rabbit, the cute and wily bunny who wears a bright blue jacket, is the best-selling creation of English author Beatrix Potter.
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