Author Harper Lee Has Died At Age 89

[ucfgrad93]

To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee has died.

Harper Lee, the little girl named Nelle who grew up to write one of the 20th Century's most culture-changing novels, has died in her beloved hometown of Monroeville, Ala. She was 89.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...ies-age-89-beloved-alabama-hometown/80605260/

 

[JamesMike]

BTW: Many people did not know that Truman Capote was a childhood friend of hers.

 

[Strider64]

Don't get me wrong Harpe Lee was a fantastic author, but I kind of feel if "To Kill a Mockingbird" hadn't become such a cult following that she probably would had written more books. However, maybe in the end one great book probably beats out many so-so books. R.I.P Harper Lee, you enhanced everyone's love for literature!

 

[bradl]

On today's edition of NPR's The Takeaway, they interviewed Starling Lawrence, who was one of Lee's oldest and best friends, as well as an editor-at-large, who had only found out about Lee's passing 15 minutes after it was announced.

http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/author-harper-lee-dead-89/

He mentioned that one of Lee's endearing factors was that there was a school teacher on a bus ride with him to a convention, in which when he mentioned that he was Lee's best friend, she told him a story about how her students each wrote a letter to Lee, and while they didn't expect to get a response, Lee personally wrote a letter, addressed to each student in her class at their school, answering their questions. She went out of her way to do that for every student who wrote to her.

Sometimes it isn't about the number of books you write, but the number of people you touch.

BL.

 

[Goatllama]

Don't get me wrong Harpe Lee was a fantastic author, but I kind of feel if "To Kill a Mockingbird" hadn't become such a cult following that she probably would had written more books. However, maybe in the end one great book probably beats out many so-so books. R.I.P Harper Lee, you enhanced everyone's love for literature!

"Two reasons: one, I wouldn't go through the pressure and publicity I went through with To Kill a Mockingbird for any amount of money. Second, I have said what I wanted to say, and I will not say it again."

So, you're pretty much right, there. She didn't like the publicity, kinda turned her off of more writing! But I definitely agree, I'll take quality over quantity any day.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I heard this news earlier today and - while not terribly surprised, - I am very sorry.

Harper Lee wrote one extraordinary, stunning, transformative book, a book that will stand the test of time, and one that is important both as an excellent work of literature in the canon of the modern United States and as a work of historical and social significance. Not many people achieve half as much.

And she also managed to persuade individuals to want to become lawyers by offering a compelling and attractive hero - a lawyer - governed by an ethical moral code, grounded in values of decency and fairness.

RIP Harper Lee.

BTW: Many people did not know that Truman Capote was a childhood friend of hers.

Yes, I had read about that some years ago, and found it fascinating. Their friendship endured, too.

 

[aaronvan]

Too bad the people close to her exploited her senility to publish the rough draft of a book Harper Lee would have never published herself.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Too bad the people close to her exploited her senility to publish the rough draft of a book Harper Lee would have never published herself.

Indeed.

But that is not what she will be remembered for.

Instead, 'To Kill A Mockingbird' remains her legacy, and what will be viewed as her life's work, a book which had an extraordinary impact and influence on how people - especially white people - viewed race, and was instrumental in helping to persuade people to question their own attitudes to race. That is no mean achievement - not many books persuade people to thick about what has been written and how that may apply to the values, situations and settings of one's own life.