George Washington Harris

George Washington Harris
BornGeorge Washington Harris
(1814-03-20)March 20, 1814
Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, USA
DiedDecember 11, 1869(1869-12-11) (aged 55)
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Resting placeBrock Cemetery
Wildwood, Georgia, USA
Pen name"Mr. Free," "Sugartail"
Occupationwriter, riverboat captain, jeweler
Genre"Old Southwest" humor, political satire, local color
Notable worksSut Lovingood: Yarns Spun By a Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool (1867)
SpouseMary Emeline Nance
Jane Pride

George Washington Harris (March 20, 1814 – December 11, 1869) was an American humorist best known for his character "Sut Lovingood," an Appalachian backwoods reveler fond of telling tall tales. Harris was among the seminal writers of Southern humor, and has been called "the most original and gifted of the antebellum humorists."[1] His work influenced authors such as Mark Twain, William Faulkner,[2] and Flannery O'Connor.[3]

Harris moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, as a child, where he worked variously as a silversmith, riverboat captain, and farmer. His earliest works were political satires published in the Knoxville Argus around 1840, and his earliest attributable works were four sporting stories published in the New York Spirit of the Times in 1843.[3] He wrote his Sut Lovingood tales for various newspapers in the 1850s and 1860s, twenty-four of which he compiled and published as his only book, Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun By a Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool, in 1867. Harris died in Knoxville in 1869 after mysteriously falling ill on a train ride.[4]

  1. ^ Michael Dunne, Calvinist Humor in American Literature (Louisiana State University Press, 2007), p. 8.
  2. ^ Faulkner, William. "The Art of Fiction no. 12: William Faulkner". The Paris Review. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference day1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference neely was invoked but never defined (see the help page).