African American folktales : stories from Black traditions in the New World Cover Image

Book

African American folktales : stories from Black traditions in the New World / selected and edited by Roger D. Abrahams.

Summary:

From the cane-fields of the ante-bellum south, the villages of the Caribbean islands, and the streets of contemporary inner cities, here are more than one hundred tales from an incredibly rich and affirmative storytelling tradition (Choice). Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to stories explaining how the world was created and got to be the way it is, to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves. They includes stories set down in travelers' reports and plantation journals from the early nineteenth century, tales gathered by collectors such as Joel Chandler Harris and Zora Neale Hurston, and narratives tape-recorded by Roger Abrahams himself during extensive expeditions throughout the American South and the Caribbean.

Record details

ISBN: 0375705392
ISBN: 9780375705397
Physical Description: xxii, 327 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, c1999.

Content descriptions

General Note:	Originally published: Afro-American folktales. c1985. "Sources, annotations, and index of tales": p. 307-320.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-324).
Formatted Contents Note:	Getting things started: how the world got put together that way -- Minding someone else's business and sometimes making it your own -- Getting a comeuppance: how (and how not) to act stories -- How clever can you get? tales of trickery and its consequences -- The strong ones and the clever: contests and confrontations -- Getting around the old master (most of the time) -- In the end, nonsense.