Harper Lee (1926-2016) wrote a legendary novel that has become an American cultural icon, selling over 40 million copies.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today’s storyteller wrote a legendary novel that has become an American cultural icon, selling over 40 million copies. It’s a staple of classrooms across the country and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film. We’re talking about the incredible, award-winning Harper Lee!
Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in southern Alabama. Her childhood in many ways mirrored the life of Scout, the main character in the book that would become her legacy. Nelle was a tomboy who enjoyed getting dirty and getting into trouble in her small hometown of Monroeville. Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was an esteemed lawyer who would serve as the inspiration for Atticus Finch -- right down to the way he talked!
One of Nelle’s best childhood friends was Truman Capote, who would also become an author of literary classics. He served as an inspiration for the character Dill in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Nelle later wound up depicted in some of his work as well.
Nelle attended Huntingdon College, a local women’s school. There, she contributed two short stories to the school magazine. Both alluded to themes that would appear in her later work. One piece described the horrors of lynching, while the other featured the legal case of eight Black men arrested for gambling.
After a year at Huntingdon College, Nelle transferred to the University of Alabama. She was strongly encouraged to pursue law by her father, who wanted Nelle to follow in his footsteps like her older sister Alice.
She was active in the school community and focused on writing. She wrote a column titled “Caustic Comments for Crimson White,” and she soon became the editor-in-chief of the school humor magazine, “The Rammer Jammer.” Nelle earned a reputation for speaking her mind and having a “tell it like it is” attitude that seemed ill-fitting for a prospective lawyer.
After spending a summer at Oxford University after college, Nelle resolved to move to New York to become a writer. She worked odd jobs by day and wrote in her apartment by night.
Then, opportunity struck giving Nelle the kickstart she needed. Her friend Truman Capote had previously introduced her to a couple named Michael and Joy Brown. They came to believe in Nelle’s dream of becoming an author. So, on Christmas in 1956, they surprised Nelle with a check equal to a year’s salary. The accompanying note read, “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.”
Nelle got to work. She gradually built a small collection of short stories. After showing those stories to a literary agent, the agent suggested that she attempt a novel. Nelle started by writing what she called “Go Set a Watchman.” That manuscript soon evolved into “To Kill a Mockingbird.” On July 11, 1960, the book was published with the byline “Harper Lee.” Nelle later said she was afraid readers would pronounce her name “Nellie,” which she couldn’t stand.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” was an instant hit. The Book-of-the-Month Club and the Literary Guild selected the novel for readers. Reader’s Digest condensed it. It jumped to the top of the major bestseller lists, where it would stay for over a year and a half. The book won the Pulitzer Prize the year after publication.
Around that same time, Truman asked Nelle to come to Kansas with him to help research a murder case. Nelle, fascinated by crime stories, agreed to join him. Her months of diligent research proved to be invaluable for the project, resulting in the book “In Cold Blood,” published in 1966 and also later turned into a critically acclaimed film.
“In Cold Blood” was immensely popular in its own right, but the friendship between Nelle and Truman would later sour in part due to Truman’s jealousy of Nelle’s success.
His jealousy was well founded. After the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, Nelle’s fame just kept skyrocketing. She gained more and more media attention, occasionally teasing at the concept of a second novel. In one 1964 interview, she said she dreamed of immortalizing the essence of the middle-class Southern life she knew growing up, a depiction she often found overlooked.
But as the years went by, that novel never came. Nelle started turning most interviews down, and her public appearances became more elusive. She returned to her hometown of Monroeville. Half a century passed with no new book. Nelle attended the local Methodist Church that her book royalties helped build. Now and then, she dropped into nearby English classes, and occasionally spent time in a small apartment she kept in Manhattan.
In 2015, the name “Harper Lee” was thrust suddenly back into the spotlight after the miraculous recovery of her manuscript “Go Set a Watchman”. The novel rocked the literary world and gained mixed reactions from eager readers. Many were shocked that Atticus Finch, often idolized as a hero of justice, was now portrayed as a racist segregationist. Though the publisher originally depicted this new book as a sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird,” it is now understood that this was the first draft of that novel Nelle submitted to publishers all those years ago.
Nelle said that she originally believed the manuscript had been lost. Her statement read, “After much thought and hesitation, I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication.”
On February 19, 2016, Nelle Harper Lee passed away at age 89. She left her mark on the literary world, and most of our childhoods, with the impactful story she chose to tell. Her legacy lives on.
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Talk to you tomorrow!