"To Kill A Mockingbird" author Harper Lee is 78 today

[Zomby Woof]

Happy Birthday to the author of one of the finest books in literature. :toast: :party:

It is worth emulating Atticus and Scout Finch - two exemplary characters.

[eileen from OH]

1. Hmmm, how old would Truman Capote be?

Since (donning my tin foil hat) I DO subscribe to the Capote-Wrote-TKAM School.

Hell, whoever wrote it, I don't care, really. Simply the best American novel ever written that was only surpassed by the greatest movie-from-a-book ever filmed.

On a related note - call me crazy (and they do) but I've always seen something Atticus Finch-y about Joe Wilson. Really - first time I saw him I thought of Atticus - wise, a little sad, burning within with a righteous anger.

Or am I just one-beer-over-the-line, Sweet Jesus?

eileen from OH

[Dookus]

7. Truman would be 80 this year...

but he didn't write TKAM!!

But I love the discussion :)

[eileen from OH]

12. Haven't we had this discussion before?

And I believe I WON, WON, WON, WON, WON!

eileen from OH (pouring yet another beer into the mug. Non-frosted, btw, in case you want to buy me one. I hate how messy those things get about 2 min. after pouring. But I digress. . .)

[Dookus]

16. LOL

I distinctly remember ME winning.

[gmoney]

13. Capote was the basis for the character "Dil"

At least that's what I recall from my high school teacher on that book... that it's basically autobiographical, and that the character if Dil is based on a young Truman Capote who spent summers in the country with his aunt, or something.

Why would Capote write it under an assumed name? And it's so much better than "Breakfast at Tiffany's" I'd say it might be out of his reach... but I haven't read enough Capote to know. Maybe it's just the movie B@T that's not so great.

[eileen from OH]

20. (Sigh) Oh, Dookus, I must go there. . .

Yes, Dil was based on Capote. Which doesn't discount that Capote could have written it.

Okay, here's the scoop - Capote and Lee were lifelong friends. Capote's work (esp. The Grass Harp) is very, very reminiscent of TKAM. Lee was his researcher for "In Cold Blood" and he owed her, big time. For that, and more.

Lee never wrote another damn thing (besides some so-so essays) after TKAM. She is extremely shy, has never given much in the way of interviews, etc. Capote, on the other hand, was a prodigious writer - he couldn't NOT write. He also had an obsession with "friends" - both those who deserted him after his last, unfinished book (Answered Prayers) and those who had stuck by him. Of the latter group, Lee was Numero Uno.

My own theory is this: Lee wrote the first manuscript and Capote rewrote it for her. It came at a time in his popularity where he didn't NEED the credit, and she did. So he "gave" it to her. After that, there was no going back and much as he may have WANTED to take credit (sublime egomaniac that he was) he simply couldn't.

Before you discount my theory (actually, it ain't "mine" - there's lots of literary scholars who believe this) please read "The Grass Harp." ("Breakfast At Tiffany's" is not a comparable work.)

I'm willing to be Dookus a beer that after Lee dies, there will be a confession released.

eileen from OHs

[Dookus]

23. heheh

first off, I didn't post the stuff about Dil... somebody else did.

Nonetheless.... I'm really familiar with the idea that Capote wrote TKAM. He's my favorite author. I've read all his stuff, and I've read Grass Harp many, many times. I've read a few biographies of him, too.

I also know that Lee never wrote anything else, which is odd.

It all comes down to my belief that Capote's ego was so huge that he could NEVER have given credit for such a work, one that won a Pulitzer, to somebody else. Capote was always complaining that his work wasn't properly recognized, and TKAM was probably the most acclaimed book of the '60s.

From what I've read of Capote, I just can't believe he could give up credit for TKAM. But I really like the romance of the idea that he did.

[fameless]

19. You and me both...

subscribe to the same school.

[eileen from OH]

21. AHA! Dookus owes us both beers!

I can see the headlines. . .

"Capote Revealed As True 'Mockingbird' Author"

"Harper Lee's Will Gives Capote Credit"

"Dookus Admits Eileen From OH And Fameless Are Right, Right, Right And Buys Many Beers"

(I like that low-carb stuff, meself. Plus it's real expensive. Heeheeheee)

eileen from OH

[UrbScotty]

2. "Walk a mile in his shoes."

Something we can all take to heart.

[Dookus]

3. Happy Birthday, Harper!

The greatest one-hit wonder of all time.

[Zomby Woof]

17. If I wrote a novel like that

I would have quit too. I would not want my subsequent books in that shadow.

Remember, Ralph Ellison tried following up his only novel, and the posthumous result was less than satisfactory, if only because it was finished by another, and burdened by high expectations.

As for anyone who thinks Capote wrote "Mockingbird", that denigrates Lee's special genius, and they belong in the same pseudoacademic category of cretins who think Bacon or someone else wrote Shakespeare.

[Rick Myers]

4. Tequila Mockingbird?

Wasn't that the artifact Maxwell Smart was looking for in the Get Smart! movie???

:toast:

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

6. Bless her heart!

Happy Birthday, Ms. Lee! And many happy returns!

[UTUSN]

5. She's Still Alive?

But one of my "greatest hits". Well, not the way it sounded. Sincerely.

[UTUSN]

8. Oh, Also Thinking of Carson McCULLERS

"Reflections in a Golden Eye", but never mind.

[blondeatlast]

9. That is THE book, and the movie is exemplary, too.

I have probably read it 6 times or more.

Atticus reminded me of my father so much, and Gregory Peck as Atticus even more so.

I am a very lucky daughter, indeed.

[VelmaD]

10. Greatest. Book. Ever.

Like Opus I re-read it at least once a year. :)

[sendero]

11. I saw the movie...

... when I was about 10. We were visiting an aunt/uncle. I didn't see many movies growing up - but this was the first movie I ever saw that really affected me. What an incredible movie, I still remember certain scenes.

A best friend named his girl Harper after this author :)

[bloom]

14. a friend of mine

named his son Atticus.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

18. We watched a clip of the movie in my Trial Advocacy class

The attorneys thought Atticus's closing argument was darned near perfect. They told us we should always elevate the jury; even if they're a bunch of ignorant, narrow-minded hayseeds, we should try to convince them to do the right thing. I LOVE this movie and book.

[riverwalker]

15. Harper Lee quote

I have always loved (especially this year):
"The only thing that does not abide by majority rule, is a person's conscience"

[Ookie]

22. My all time favorite book

And that's saying a lot coming from a dedicated bookworm like me!!!!!