Capote SO wrote Mockingbird

[Goblinmonger]

I teach Mockingbird to 10th graders at my school. Each year I briefly dabble into the conspiracy theory the Capote wrote the novel for one of his best friends, Lee. I cover the usual; Lee never wrote another thing that didn't suck. I really didn't believe it, but it was a fun conversation with the kids. I really wanted to believe that anybody could have that Pulitzer Prize winner in them somewhere (even me--please, please, please).

Then I read In Cold Blood a couple years ago and the episodic nature of the book really struck me as being so similar to Mockingbird. I was starting to fold my tinfoil hat.

I just finished reading "Grass Harp" on the recommendation of someone in the forum (can't remember who). The prose is so similar. The narrative style is dead on. He uses the word "morphadyte" and talks about the Jitney Jungle for goodness sake. I know, it's a real word and a real store, but I have read thousands of books and have only come across those in two books.

My tinfoil hat is firmly in place on my head. I am now a believer. If you are a non-believer, read Grass Harp (it is only a 90ish page novella) and let me know. Even if you don't believe, the read is worth it in itself.

Let me know your thoughts. Maybe nobody else cares. :shrug:

[ananda]

1. hmm

I never heard of that theory, but you could be right. Quien sabe...

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Why would he have done that?

Jumpstart Lee's career?

Maybe it was Lee's story and Capote did some major editing, so much that it took on his style?

Never read Grass Harp, myself.

[Goblinmonger]

6. They were best friends

Capote is Dill in Mockingbird (according to Lee). Capote always spoke fondly of Lee. The theory is that he just wanted to do her a favor.

The editing theory holds a lot of water, but it would have had to be SERIOUS editing.

Regardless of the theory, read Grass Harp; the prose is some of the most beautiful I have read.

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. I'll check it out. I've read both "In Cold Blood" and "Mockingbird"

but it's been years, and years, and years -- no way I could make a comparison without reading them again. Which I might just do. They could be completely different stories than those I read at 20 and 17, respectively.

Thanks.

[Goblinmonger]

9. Forgot one thing

If you subscribe to the theory that the "author's voice" is always present somewhere in the novel (not in the "this is how I write" way but in a "hey, this is the actual author speaking" way), I have another argument that Capote wrote it. The part in the novel that always struck me as being the "author's voice" is right after Dill gets ill during the trial and gives his "they have no right to do him that way" speech. Dill = Capote = Author's voice?

[MnFats]

3. Capote dedicated 'In Cold Blood' to Harper Lee....

..not that there's any significance to that...

[niallmac]

4. First time I've heard this. Maybe I should take your class.

Who knows more about this? :shrug:

[Goblinmonger]

7. I have googled it in the past

and come up with some of the explanations.

[LA lady]

5. Interesting

While I disagree with you about the theory, they were of course very close friends and Dill is supposedly based on the young Capote. When he came to Leavenworth for Perry Smith and Dick Hickok's execution she accompanied him (Capote paid for their burial and markers).
I think his style possibly rubbed off on her but it IS an interesting idea!

I taught also but never Mockingbird. I envy you!

[Goblinmonger]

8. There are lots of times I hate my career decision

but then I get to Mockingbird (and Huck Finn, and Ordinary People) and I realize how lucky I am to teach literature to high school students.

And Mockingbird is one of my favorite novels. Actually the only one to remain on my "favorites" list since high school

I, too, thought that the style rubbed off or that he edited it a lot, but after reading Grass Harp, the editing would have had to have been something like, "well, this all sucks. Why not try it this way?"

As a literature, I know that it doesn't matter in the end who wrote the novel (and I'm not even saying that from the deconstruction aisle of the literaturemarket), but what else do we English geeks think about at night?

[abluelady]

11. See the Movie "Capote"

You will feel more validated in your thoughts. They grew up together in Alabama and had a very close relationship. Apparently, she was his "researcher" for In Cold Blood. I think that happened in Kansas, didn't it? Well, you can imagine how the folks in Kansas felt about a Capote type???? She was always there for him. Why wouldn't he have helped her out?

[Goblinmonger]

12. I really want to see that movie

It looks fabulous. I was born in 1966, so I remember Capote as a "figure" on television. I didn't "get" who he was (had no concept at the time about homosexuals and did not know his literature yet) but his presense was so demanding I still have very vivid memories of seeing him on television (probably Carson when my parents were out).

[abluelady]

13. It is fabulous

And the man playing Capote, whose name I can never remember, but it is three names, should win an oscar.

[Richardo]

19. He was a regular on Dick Cavett, too...

[Dorian Gray]

38. Capote was great.

Especially if you are interested in his life. In Cold Blood is fantastic, and it was really neat watching the "process!"

This is a timely topic for me, as well. I've never ever ever read To Kill A Mockingbird, and I just bought it two days ago to read over the summer. (I think I'm the only graduated from college English major who has never read that darn book, too!)

[pitohui]

14. oh yeah i read a book abt this

it's called, how to suppress women's writing, by joanna russ

plenty in there abt how if it is any good then she didn't write it, he did

christ

you could just as well, from the same evidence, argue that lee wrote "grass harp" and "in cold blood" but since capote is a man, it wouldn't occur to you

jitney jungle pre-bankruptcy simply wasn't a rare grocery store and people who think they can ID the author from the prose do not understand what a writer does

stephen king & peter straub have often commented that in their collaborations, they deliberately used ea. other's voices, and they would get a kick out of people saying, "i know which chapter king wrote" -- and of course this would invariably be the material penned by straub

[Goblinmonger]

15. You found me out from going to my website

womensuckatwriting.com, right?

First, you contradict yourself at the end. You say that I don't understand what writers do when I say the prose is similar--which I assume means that you cannot identify a specific writing style. Then you say that Straub and King "deliberately used each other's voices." You admit that they have a unique voice, which is what you mocked me for saying. Can an author imitate another's voice; yes. That does not deny that a writer is unique.

Second, I never said that Jitney Jungle wasn't common. In fact I said the opposite. What I did say is that in the thousands of books that I have read, I have heard it mentioned twice. How about you? Have you read it anywhere else?

Finally, the feminist pissing match. You know nothing about me, so I will not be offended by your assumption that I am a charter member of the "he-man-woman-haters-club." You have no way of knowing that I teach novels by Mary Ann Evans (and I call her that, not the evil male name), fought hard and won to replace Scarlet Letter with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in our American Literature class when I started teaching at this new school, Judith Guest, and spend a lot of time (I try to make it as equal as possible) on female authors in the Am. Lit survey. Yes, Lee could have written Blood and Harp, but that doesn't make sense given the other things that were published under Lee's name. They were crap. That is my starting point; Lee wrote one thing that was good and it is markedly different from her other stuff in voice.

[pitohui]

20. a problem w. the english language

since the personal "you" and the generic "you" are spelled the same, then people get all huffed and personal

my opinion stands, it is a recurring issue that when a woman writes only one good thing, it somehow means she didn't write it

there are lots of men who only wrote one good thing, such as the "one hundred dollar misunderstanding" but no one looks around and decides that the little woman in their life wrote the book

the presumption is always that if it's by a woman, either she didn't really write it or it isn't any good

now i did not address "you" personally

i was addressing a problem women writers have faced for centuries

it is just sad that even today, on a progressive website, that ANY POSTER, not specifically YOU, but ANYBODY would entertain the idea that a work known to be written by a woman was really written by a man

it just saddens me

will admit i have never sat down and counted the number of references to jitney jungle, piggly wiggly, winn dixie, or any other amusingly named southern grocery store in various books but i'm sure it is quite a lot and equally sure they weren't all written by capote, such evidence is not evidence of anything except a person looking for a way to take away another person's achievement

[Goblinmonger]

21. Capote had hinted to the fact that he was

responible for most of that book, but never went too far with it.

I can't remember the name, but I believe that one of Lee's main editors has come out to say that she believes Capote was seriously involved in the novel.

I am not ignorant to the fact that women authors have experienced a great deal of problems in the literary community, even in the present day. On the other hand, there have been conspiracy theories out about people writing other people's work for ages. Look at the Bacon/Shakespeare theories. How does that fit into it?

In my heart, I want Harper Lee to have written Mockingbird, but after all of my readings of the novel and reading other Capote things, I just don't believe she did. I know, for me, it doesn't have anything to do with her being female.

[athena]

26. And of course ...

if Capote hinted it, he must have written the book. :sarcasm:

And there is just no way that Lee's editor was a sexist pig who suspected that Capote wrote TKAM because he didn't consider a woman -- especially a quiet and reserved woman like Lee -- to be capable of writing a great novel.

Lee is still alive. Why don't you send her a letter with your thoughts and demand that she admit she didn't write the book? I'm sure she'd be delighted.

[Goblinmonger]

29. Why the hell would I do that?

Like I would have the audacity to DEMAND something of Lee. Like I have indicated in any way that something like that would be appropriate? Seriously. I was writing a post about some thoughts I had after reading Grass Harp. Have you read that novella? Have you read it right after reading Mockingbird? If, yes, the please feel free to discuss it with me. That is why I posted it. If no. Then please do and let me know what you think. You have no idea who I am and where I stand on the issues of women writers, yet you hop on me pretty fast. I was looking for a literary discussion. Do you jump on the people that suggest Shakespeare didn't write the plays and Bacon (or one of the other couple possibilites) actually did? Are those people anti-actor?

[patricia92243]

16. Is Mockingbird "To kill A Mockingbird?"

[Goblinmonger]

17. Yes

[Z_I_Peevey]

18. I tend to agree with you.

I have not read Grass Harp, but I became very interesting in this literary mystery after Other Voices, Other Rooms. Such beautiful writing, the southern childhood, etc.

Did Capote himself ever offer any hints? The strongest argument against him as author of Mockingbird, IMO, is his ego. I can't imagine him leaving no subtle claims to authorship.

[catbert836]

22. Evidence seems to contradict that theory

Apparently Capote wrote a letter to his cousin before "Mockingbird" was published, saying he had read it thought it was an excellent work, and that he was very proud of his friend Harper Lee. Never mentioned anything about writing it, or even contrubuting or editing it. Remember, Capote was very egotistical, and plus, he never won the National Book Award or the Pulitzer Prize (although those were several of his goals), so it seems to follow that he would have said that he had something to do with it.

[AbbyR]

23. I heard much the same thoughts on an NPR story

I don't remember who was speaking on the topic, but he mentioned Capote's great ego and the fact that he never won awards but certainly did want to, and would have said if he had anything to do with To Kill a Mockingbird.

I'd hate to think she didn't write it - it's been on my favorite list ever since high school, and was also one of the few movies I ever saw that did justice to the novel.

[Goblinmonger]

28. I read segments

of an interview by Lee's main editor and she said that Capote has a lot to do with the rewriting of the novel. So he certainly let that claim go.

In the end, who really cares who wrote it. My interest in this is purely from an English Teacher/Geek perspective. It is a fabulous story. It is a superb narrative. It is moving and teaches us a great deal about the human condition. Capote, Lee, whomever wrote it, it is still all those things.

[northzax]

24. well, they grew up together

so they would have shared experiences, like the Jitney Jungle?

[athena]

25. Sure, a woman can't have done it.

What makes you so sure that Lee had no input in "In Cold Blood"? It is quite likely that she proofread it and edited it, which would account for the similar words. Or, like any two writer friends, they might have discussed words and writing styles. There is no way Capote could have written To Kill a Mockingbird book and never bragged about it. It's just as unlikely that Lee would have accepted a Pulitzer for something she didn't write. But of course, we don't consider the possibility that a woman might have some self-respect, do we?

There are many famous authors, male and female, who only wrote one novel, or one great novel. In fact, most great writers produce only one great novel. That kind of inspiration doesn't always strike more than once in a lifetime. When it's a man, it's merely interesting, but when it's a woman, it must mean she didn't write the book, eh?

I am disgusted beyond words.

[Goblinmonger]

31. Did you even read this whole thread

I had this same discussion above with someone else and explained myself. If you don't like my explanation, then at least respond to it so I don't have to redo the whole thing 10 messages down.

I am disgusted that you would just assume I am some mysogonistic prick. I am disgusted that you would jump to conclusions about my feelings toward female writers. I am disgusted that you don't even take the time to know what I do/teach/think about women writers. I am disgusted that you didn't even take a minute to feel me about about women writers before posting this knee-jerk reaction.

As I said above, I will not be offended about your knee-jerk reaction because you don't know me and what I have done for the cause of women and women writers specifically.

[athena]

41. Yes, I did.

I read the whole thread, and you haven't proven anything. Nor have you convincingly refuted all the evidence that indicates Harper Lee wrote her own book.

Here are some comments from a retired history professor who has researched the subject. He points out, among other things, that the "voice" of To Kill a Mockingbird is inconsistent with the "voice" of Capote's books:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5244492

If you can't see the sexism of your attitude, that's your problem, not mine. You're spreading misinformation and defaming a great writer. This is disgraceful, regardless of what kind of person you may think you are.

[madaboutharry]

56. You have missed the point here. His post is not

a misogynistic creed against women, for crying out loud. It has nothing to do with Harper Lee being a woman. It could have been Joe Shmoe. The thread here is about a serious discussion as to whether Truman Capote is the actual author of To Kill A Mockingbird. The thread is about the relationship of Harper Lee and Truman Capote and how far that friendship went. I don't know what you could find offensive about this debate.

[pretzel4gore]

27. In one scene in Capote, Truman says "I can't see what the fuss is about"

watch for it when you rent 'Capote' (an excellent movie, btw)...the news that "to Kill a Mockingbird" was to be published occurred during the time when Truman was waiting for the killers to be executed...later in NY there are parties celebrating the Lee book, and despite his love for Lee, Capote is on tenterhooks waiting for the denoument of his opus, and he feels dreadful, knowing that he needs the boys to die asap! It's in this state of mind he's approached by a concerned Lee while Capote's at the bar alone and brooding at one of her publisher's do's, and when she's called away to do a scheduled reading or whatever, Capote waspishly says to her back that, in effect, he doesn't really think TKAM is that big a deal....as a southener, even one as unusual as Truman Capote, i just cannot imagine him writing a book like To Kill a Mockingbird...the injustice featured therein almost require a woman's sense, imo....btw, you say you only read 'In Cold Blood' a couple years ago - did you purposely avoid it? (i remember years ago hearing kids complaining about this 'really thick boring' tome they had to wade through, which is just so opposite of what 'In Cold Blood' is!)

[Goblinmonger]

30. It is next on my netflix.

I will watch for that scene and get back to you.

I don't know why I didn't read it. I guess it is one of those books that I always knew about, but never made it to the top of my reading list. I finally realized that I was a streak reader and put myself on a rotating list of book "types" to read (Classic, modern "hit," Pulitzer, Trash, Non-Dead-Old-White-Guy) and I thought of In Cold Blood for classic. I have since recommended it to a lot of juniors in my lit class. Almost everyone I recommend it to likes it, but I do think I am pretty good at matching book to student when I know them even just a little bit.

[catbert836]

32. Sad. It's the only good book he ever wrore, IMHO.

It was a good book, but not that great, if you know what I mean. After that, Capote just became the original "famous for being famous" celebrity, and practically never wrote (or worked, for that matter) again a day in his life.

[Goblinmonger]

33. I think he liked

being famous for being famous, though that added nothing to the literary community.

I agree that it is not "Top 10" material, though I may argue top 100 of the century, American. I think the greatness of the novel is the establishment of the genre. I am not arguing that it is the first ever jounalistic non-fiction/fiction, but it certainly was the first really popular one. I think it helped spawn a new type of literature which is greatness to a degree in and of itself.

[catbert836]

34. Yes, it certainly was influential.

It was a very good effort, for a new type of literature, and it's very sad to me that he never even attempted to top it, with any kind of book. He really was a good writer...

[Beaverhausen]

35. I've heard it was the other way around - that Lee wrote most of...

...In Cold Blood. And I thought they were cousins?

[Goblinmonger]

36. I have not heard that version

It seems to be common knowledge, especially with the movie, that Lee was Capote's researcher and did a lot of work on the book. Anyplace I can go to learn more about the flipside theory; it seems interesting and I need some summer reading.

I have never heard they were cousins--just childhood friends.

[McCamy Taylor]

37. Disagree strongly. Capote's ego was too strong. Everything he wrote

had CAPOTE in it. Even his early "adolescent" fiction work "Other Voices, Other Rooms" with its youthful voice showed a preoccupation with homosexuality, violence, sexual obsession, desire, self destruction. A late, very minor work was exactly the same, however by this time in history there was no need to repress anything so there was no art in the work.

For some artists, their art is a way to channel repressed emotion or desire. They will repeat the same story over and over like a sexual fetishist acting out the same preferred sex act with the chosen toys.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is something entirely different. It is more analogous to "The Grapes of Wrath". A writer abandons his or her ego when approaching a project like that. The overwhelming emotion becomes unconditional love and support for victimized members of society. The artist's role becomes that of medium for a greater truth that flows through him. He is like the selfless priest channeling the word of a god, though in this case he is actually a scribe writing down the simple, pure beauty of the common wisdom that all people know and understand in their pure, childlike, loving hearts---Scout makes a perfect vehicle for this truth.

I do not believe that Capote had it in his power to become this selfless, this devoid of ego. I could be wrong, but I really, really doubt it. He used to appear on talk shows a lot, and no one loved to talk and brag about himself more than Capote.

A journalist would be the perfect person to write "To Kill a Mockingbird" since journalists have been taught to practice removing their ego from their stories. Nowadays, many journalists are also saddled with tremendous egos too, but the good ones are not.

[mitchum]

48. Yours is an excellent and cogent refutation of that nonsensical theory

far more reasoned and eloquent than my reply of "bullshit and nonsense" :)

[Lavender Brown]

39. I don't believe he did, personally

But I'll think about it the next time I read the book - it's an interesting question. :)

[Paladin]

40. Today's "Salon" (6/6) Has A Review Of The New Harper Lee Bio

The author says that not only did Harper Lee write "Mockingbird," but that her research on Capote's "In Cold Blood" was a lot more extensive and important than has previously been credited.

She's still alive, by the way. That's something I didn't realize.....

[athena]

42. Anyone who is tempted to believe the OP should check out the following:

The new biography of Harper Lee:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080507919X/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1/002-6000458-0220844?n=283155

A Salon review of this book, which discusses evidence suggesting that Harper Lee contributed significantly to In Cold Blood:
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/06/shields/index_np.html

A NYT review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/books/review/11keillor.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

An interview with a historian:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5244492

[Goblinmonger]

43. I had heard about this book

My wife saw a bit about it on some news show and told me about it. I came into this thread to mention the book. It is on my list for this summer, albeit toward the end of the summer. I do want to read it before I teach the novel again.

You gotta calm down a little, though. I am "spreading misinformation" and "defaming" Harper Lee. I think Harper Lee can survive the speculations of Goblinmonger on DU. The link you provided above even refers to the "decades-old speculation" that Capote wrote Mockingbird. Are all of those other people that have speculated hopeless sexists that were hell-bent on defaming Lee?

And make sure you are logically consistant in your arguments against me. You go off about how the voice in Lee's book is TOTALLY different than the voice in Capote's work. Then you later tell me that it was in fact Lee that wrote a lot/most of In Cold Blood. I imagine if that were true, her voice would have come through In Cold Blood which would make my point correct about voice.

I will say it one more time and then I will ignore further charges from you. I am not a sexist. I based my opinion on the fact that Capote had many other pieces published while Lee only wrote one thing that didn't suck. Just on a statisical level, it would seem that if one wrote the other, the smart odds were on Capote doing the writing. Perhaps I am wrong. I can live with that. I have championed the causes of women and other minority writers whenever I can. I have brought about changes in the curriculum of my school to include both more women and more people of color. I am working on more changes as well. Lay off the sexist bit. It's not true, it's getting a little old, and you really don't know me at all.

[athena]

46. OK, fine, you're not sexist. But I still think your theory is wrong.

I don't know you, so I obviously can't know for sure whether you're sexist or not. It's good to hear that you champion minorities' rights and introduce your students to a variety of literature. That's admirable. But you have to admit that what you wrote can easily be mistaken for sexism. Can you even argue honestly that it doesn't contribute to someone else's sexism? Great women artists and scientists are still widely devalued in society, and after a while, it gets tiring.

I haven't read In Cold Blood, so I don't know personally whether the voices are similar or different. What I wrote earlier was not that the voices were similar, but that it wouldn't be surprising for two writers who grew up together, and started writing together, to use similar words and similar literary techniques. Anyway, I'm reading Mockingbird, Harper Lee's biography now, and in the introduction, the author says that Lee had significant input into In Cold Blood, which Capote never credited. It seems Capote became a little jealous of his childhood friend, since he badly wanted the Pulitzer and didn't get it. (By the way, it's a beautiful book, and an enjoyable read, at least based on what I've read of it so far. The guy who wrote it was a high-school teacher before he started writing biographies.)

Also, you still haven't explained: (a) why Capote kept so quiet if he really wrote TKAM, and (b) how anyone could be so low as to accept a Pulitzer for something she didn't write. (OK, maybe * and his clan could.)

As a physicist, I can tell you that you have too little statistics in this case to prove anything. There is just not enough evidence to make such a serious accusation. And too many things suggest that Capote did not write TKAM. To me, it doesn't seem surprising at all that Lee never wrote another book after TKAM. Once you've written such a bestseller, the raised expectations can be paralyzing, especially for someone like Lee who is so fearful of publicity. Lee's biographer claims his book will make the reader understand why she never wrote another book. We'll see.

[CAcyclist]

44. There was an article about Lee I read somewhere

maybe the SF Chron, maybe online, that also mentions this but adds that she collaborated with him to produce his novels ,too. She wrote him letters objecting to not getting credit for some of her ideas that were in the books, as I recall, according to this article. They grew up together, they created stories together when they were kids, it would make sense their writing is similar.

[CAcyclist]

45. Okay I did a little research:

http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3262

(I point out that in another era people wondered whether Harper Lee, or her childhood pal Truman Capote, was the real author of the wonderful To Kill a Mockingbird. This speculation was fueled by Lee’s never having published again. But recent discovery of new Capote correspondence confirms that Lee, and Lee alone, wrote the book.)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5244492

All Things Considered, March 3, 2006 · New evidence may end the decades-old speculation that Truman Capote -- not Harper Lee -- wrote the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Dr. Wayne Flynt, retired professor of history from Auburn University discusses the basis for the persistent rumor and explains why it is indeed false.

http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/06/shields/

If the two shared what Lee called a "common anguish" and Capote dubbed "an apartness" in childhood, they were inverted artistically as adults: Each was fascinated by crime, but "In Cold Blood," Capote's genre-busting "non-fiction novel" about the murder of a Kansas family, exposed a world of random violence, presaging a future of rogue postal workers and murderous schoolchildren, while "To Kill a Mockingbird" painted a moral portrait of good and evil, leaving the reader comfortably nestled in the lap of righteousness. Shields doesn't frame it this way; his story is more anecdotal than analytical, but he gives you the raw material, neatly packaged, on which to base any number of term papers about the correlations between the two writers and their work. He answers several questions that have swirled around Lee and Capote (yes, the character Dill was based on Capote; no, Capote did not write part or all of "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and he introduces fresh information that puts a new spin on both authors. For example, Lee inspired Capote's character Ann "Jumbo" Finchburg, ("a sawed off but solid tomboy with an all-hell-let-loose wrestling technique") in his story "The Thanksgiving Visitor," as well as the boyish Idabel Tompkins of his novel "Other Voices, Other Rooms."

For fans of both Capote and "Capote," Shields' most salient revelation will be that Lee's contribution to "In Cold Blood" was much greater than the film conveys. First, Lee served as a social lubricant for Capote, who impressed Kansas Bureau of Investigation detective Harold Nye as "an absolute flake" in contrast to his assistant, who "looked like normal folk." Lead detective Alvin Dewey said, "If Capote came on as something of a shocker, she was there to absorb the shock." (He also called her a "good looker," though she was known for being frumpy.) More significantly, Capote relied on Lee not just for research, but also for characterization. "Nelle's gift for creating character sketches turned out to complement Truman's ability to recall remarks," writes Shields, reporting on the duo's first trip to Holcomb, Kan., to research the murders in 1959. "Many times over the next month, Capote's telegraphic descriptions of a conversation would end with 'See NL's notes' to remind him to use her insights later."

[mitchum]

47. Bullshit and nonsense

[Goblinmonger]

49. Hard to argue with logic and reasoning like that

Oh, wait, no it isn't.

Your claim of "bullshit and nonsense" is poppycock and fiddlesticks.

Ball's in your court.

[mitchum]

50. Post 37 is a very cogent refutation of your thesis, but I would like to...

add that I have reread Capote's existing oeuvre every couple of years (actually, it's a small body of work) since I was ten (Honest, I still own my first copy of "In Cold Blood" with my name scrawled on the flyleaf in an obvious 8 year old hand), and I've probably read "To Kill A Mockingbird" a couple of dozen times. Yes, Capote and Lee often deal with the same themes, but their styles are markedly different. When Capote writes about childhood, he can't avoid creeping sentimentality and a deliberate artfulness. Lee writes about childhood with a seeming artlessness and lack of self consciousness. Note: "seeming"
I certainly think that Capote was the better writer, but Lee pulled off something that Capote (and many other writers) have found impossible to do. She created a precocious child protagonist who does not come off in a cloying or annoying manner. One can not say the same for Capote.

Was that better than bullshit and nonsense? :)

peace,
mitchum

[Lyric]

51. I tend to believe the opposite--that Harper Lee helped Capote not the other way around.

And I don't think that her later offerings "sucked" as you so bluntly put it. They just weren't as wildly successful as TKaM

[Orrex]

52. How in the world did you ever find this thread?

:evilgrin:

[fishwax]

55. I'm inclined to agree with you

I'm not an expert on Capote, by any stretch, but I don't think In Cold Blood happens without Harper Lee.

[stray cat]

53. Gone with the Wind was a one book author - it was quite good

[Are_grits_groceries]

54. I don't think Capote wrote Mockingbird.

He does have a Southern style that shows up in "A Thanksgiving Visitor" and "A Christmas Memory." He also has it in "Grass Harp." There are similarities, but as someone mentioned, Capote and Lee did grow up together. They are likely to have picked up a lot of the same things.

After I read her biography ("Mockingbird"), I gave the theory less credence. I think their work on "In Cold Blood" changed them. Too close to evil or something. I don't know.

Lee had that one marvelous story in her. Even as close as Capote was to her, I don't think he could have kept his mouth shut if he had had a lot to do with it. Maybe I underestimate his loyalty. I just think he was too far gone at times to control what he said and did.

This is not an attack. There is merit in the theory. I just don't think it is true.