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Are you all tapped out on the slave and servant narrative yet? Atria Publishing “Gone With The Wind Prequel Based On Mammy’s Life According to NY Daily News reports : On Thursday, Simon & Schuster imprint Atria Publishing announced that it had acquired rights to “Ruth’s Journey,” a novel that tells the story of servant Mammy, one of the key character’s in Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel. Mammy was played in the film version of the book by actress Hattie McDaniel, who won an Academy Award for the role. The Mitchell estate authorized the book, which was written by Donald McCaig. He is no stranger to the world of Mitchell’s characters, having already written two other “Gone With the Wind” spin-offs. Mitchell’s book on the civil war South is often criticized for its one-dimensional portraits of African-American characters. “What’s really remarkable about what Donald has done is it’s a book that respects and honors its source material, but it also provides a necessary correction to what is one of the more troubling aspects of the book, which is how the black characters are portrayed,” Peter Borland, the editorial director of Atria, told the New York Times. Do you think it’s a good thing Mammy’s story is being told? Do you think we should be more critical because the story is being written by a white man? Or do you think that it doesn’t matter who tells it as long as they do the research and do a good job? Shutterstock Continue reading →