HARPER LEE
G'day guys,
We have all heard about, or read, To Kill A Mocking Bird, written by HARPER LEE. It was apparently the only book she ever published but has reputedly sold more than 50 million copies. Here are some facts about Harper Lee.
Writer Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in
Monroeville, Alabama. In 1959, she finished the manuscript for her Pulitzer
Prize-winning best-seller To Kill a Mockingbird. Soon after, she helped
fellow-writer and friend Truman
Capote write an article for The New Yorker which would
later evolve into his nonfiction masterpiece, In Cold Blood. Lee's
second novel was never published.
Famed
author Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama.
Lee Harper is best known for writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller To
Kill a Mockingbird (1960)—her one and only novel. The youngest of
four children, she grew up as a tomboy in a small town. Her father was a
lawyer, a member of the Alabama state legislature and also owned part of the
local newspaper. For most of Lee's life, her mother suffered from mental
illness, rarely leaving the house. It is believed that she may have had bipolar
disorder.
In high school, Lee developed an interest in English literature. After graduating in 1944, she went to the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery. Lee stood apart from the other students—she couldn't have cared less about fashion, makeup or dating. Instead, she focused on her studies and on her writing. Lee was a member of the literary honor society and the glee club.
Aspiring Writer
Transferring
to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Lee was known for being a loner and
an individualist. She did make a greater attempt at a social life there,
joining a sorority for a while. Pursuing her interest in writing, Lee
contributed to the school's newspaper and its humor magazine, the Rammer
Jammer. She eventually became the editor of the Rammer Jammer.
In her
junior year, Lee was accepted into the university's law school, which allowed
students to work on law degrees while still undergraduates. The demands of her
law studies forced her to leave her post as editor of the Rammer Jammer.
After her first year in the law program, Lee began expressing to her family
that writing—not the law—was her true calling. She went to Oxford University in
England that summer as an exchange student. Returning to her law studies that
fall, Lee dropped out after the first semester. She soon moved to New York City
to follow her dreams to become a writer.
In 1949, a
23-year-old Lee arrived in New York City. She struggled for several years,
working as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and for the British Overseas Air
Corp (BOAC). While in the city, Lee was reunited with old friend Truman
Capote, one of the literary rising stars of the time.
In 1956, the Browns gave Lee an impressive Christmas present—to support her for a year so that she could write full time. She quit her job and devoted herself to her craft. The Browns also helped her find an agent, Maurice Crain. He, in turn, was able to get the publishing firm interested in her first novel, which was first titled Go Set a Watchman, then Atticus.
Work with Truman Capote
Later
that year, Lee joined forces with old friend Truman Capote to assist him with an article he
was writing for The New Yorker. Capote was writing about the impact of
the murder of four members of the Clutter family on their small Kansas farming
community. The two traveled to Kansas to interview townspeople, friends and
family of the deceased, and the investigators working to solve the crime.
Serving as his research assistant, Lee helped with the interviews, eventually
winning over some of the locals with her easy-going, unpretentious manner.
Truman, with his flamboyant personality and style, also had a hard time
initially getting himself into his subjects' good graces.
During
their time in Kansas, the Clutters' suspected killers, Richard Hickock and
Perry Smith, were caught in Las Vegas and brought back for questioning. Lee and
Capote got a chance to interview the suspects not long after their arraignment
in January 1960. Soon after, Lee and Capote returned to New York. She worked on
the galleys for her forthcoming first novel while he started working on his
article, which would evolve into the nonfiction masterpiece, In Cold Blood.
The pair returned to Kansas in March for the murder trial. Later that spring,
Lee gave Capote all of her notes on the crime, the victims, the killers, the
local communities and much more.
Soon Lee
was engrossed in her literary success story. In July 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird
was published and picked up by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Literary
Guild. A condensed version of the story appeared in Reader's Digest
magazine. The work’s central character, a young girl nicknamed Scout, was not
unlike Lee in her youth. In one of the book's major plotlines, Scout and her
brother Jem and their friend Dill explore their fascination with a mysterious
and somewhat infamous neighborhood character named Boo Radley.
But the
work was more than a coming-of-age story, however. Another part of the novel
reflected racial prejudices in the South. Their attorney father, Atticus Finch,
tries to help a black man who has been charged with raping a white woman to get
a fair trial and to prevent him from being lynched by angry whites in a small
town.
The
following year, To Kill a Mockingbird won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize
and several other literary awards. Horton Foote wrote a screenplay based on the
book and used the same title for the 1962 film adaptation.
By the
mid-1960s, Lee was reportedly working on a second novel, but it was never
published. Continuing to help Capote, Lee worked with him on and off on In
Cold Blood. She had been invited by Smith and Hickock to witness their
execution in 1965, but she declined.
When Capote's book was finally published
in 1966, a rift developed between the two friends and collaborators. Capote dedicated
the book to Lee and to his longtime lover, Jack Dunphy, but failed to acknowledge her
contributions to the work. While Lee was very angry and hurt by this betrayal,
she remained friends with Capote for the rest of his life.
That same
year, Lee had an operation on her hand to repair damage done by a bad burn. She
also accepted a post on the National Council of the Arts at the request of
President Lyndon B. Johnson. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lee largely retreated
from public life.
Lee spent
some of her time on a non-fiction book project about an Alabama serial killer,
which had the working title The Reverend. This work, however, was never
published. Lee continues to live a quiet, private life in New York City and
Monroeville. Active in her church and community, she usually avoids anything to
do with her still popular novel.
On May 3,
2013, Lee filed a lawsuit in federal court against the son-in-law of her former
agent, Samuel Pinkus. The writer charges that, in 2007, Pinkus "engaged in
a scheme to dupe" her out of the copyright to her most famous work and
only published novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, later diverting royalties
from the work.
Clancy's comment: Amazing, eh? Wow, imagine selling more than 50 million copies.
"LOVE ON THE ROAD 2013"
You may recall that I was
recently invited to be one of a few judges in a special writing contest - 'Love
On The Road 2013', organised by a former guest on this blog - Sam Tranum. Here is the link to that particular post:
Well, the winners have been published in an anthology. As one of the judges, I'd highly recommend that you purchase this book. The stories were brilliant and, I do not receive any payments whatsoever from sales. Here are the links to purchase it online:
AMAZON
CREATESPACE
I'm ...
Think about this!
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