George Washington Harris
George Washington Harris was an American writer born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, in 1814, known primarily for his creation of the character Sut Lovingood, a humorous Southern bumpkin. Harris's early life included a move to the Tennessee frontier with his half-brother, where he engaged in various professions such as riverboat captain and silversmith. His writing career began around 1840 with contributions to the Argus and Commercial Herald, reflecting his Southern political leanings. Through Sut Lovingood, Harris delivered a blend of ribald humor and social satire, commenting on contemporary political figures and events. His 1867 publication, "Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun by a 'Natr'al Born Durn'd Fool,'" showcased his talent for capturing Southern dialect and garnered positive reviews, including one from Mark Twain. However, Twain also warned that audiences from the East might find both the character and Harris himself objectionable. This duality in reception highlights the complexity of Harris's work, which, while celebrated for its humor, also faced criticism for its stereotypical representations.
On this Page
Subject Terms
George Washington Harris
Humorist
- Born: March 20, 1814
- Birthplace: Allegheny City (now Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania
- Died: December 11, 1869
- Place of death: Knoxville, Tennessee
Biography
George Washington Harris created Sut Lovingood, a ribald Southern bumpkin, whose unvarnished humorous tales were largely admired as comic gems, if not full of stereotype. Harris was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, in 1814. What became of Harris’s parents eluded historians, but Harris’s older half-brother, Samuel Bell, moved with Harris to the Tennessee frontier at Knoxville in 1819. In Bell’s metal shop, Harris supposedly built a working model steamboat, inspired by the first appearance of a steamboat in Knoxville in 1826.
Harris tried his hand at several professions, including riverboat captain, farmer, silversmith and glassworks superintendent. Around 1840, Harris began contributing to the Argus and Commercial Herald, published by E. G. Eastman, whom Harris had befriended when the newspaperman moved to Knoxville. Harris’s association with the Democratic paper was indicative of his Southern political leanings. The slaveholding Harris satirized the 1856 presidential race in a piece that had candidates Buchanan, Fillmore and Freemont playing cards for the office. Harris lampooned Lincoln in 1861. Grant met a similar literary fate in 1868.
It was in the Argus and Commercial Herald that Harris developed the voice of the character with whom he would be most associated. Sut Lovingood was uncouth and unbridled. Harris’s character was mean-spirited but self-effacing. Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun by a “Natr’al Born Durn’d Fool,” published in 1867, contained previously unpublished tales, and several heavily rewritten previously published stories.
Mark Twain reviewed the book, and gave Harris high marks for capturing and rendering Southern speech. Presciently though, Twain cautioned that Easterners would find Sut Lovingood (and Harris) objectionable. Edmund Wilson fulfilled the prediction in The New Yorker in 1955. Wilson’s called Harris’s Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun by a “Natr’al Born Durn’d Fool” repellent.