Harper Lee

Who Was Harper Lee?

Harper Lee, an acclaimed American author, achieved literary fame with her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960. The book, a staple of American literature, explores themes of racial injustice and moral growth through the eyes of a young girl in the racially charged American South. In 1959, shortly before the novel’s release, Lee assisted her close friend, Truman Capote, in researching an article for The New Yorker, which later evolved into his groundbreaking nonfiction work, In Cold Blood.

Lee’s second novel, Go Set a Watchman, was published in July 2015. This work, written prior to To Kill a Mockingbird, revisits the characters from her first novel, presenting their lives many years later.

Early Life

Born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, Lee was the youngest of four children. She was raised in a small town environment, where she often displayed tomboyish tendencies. Her father, a lawyer and a member of the Alabama state legislature, also had ownership in the local newspaper. Meanwhile, her mother struggled with mental illness, likely bipolar disorder, which limited her involvement in family life.

Education

Lee’s passion for English literature emerged during her high school years. Upon graduating in 1944, she enrolled at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, an all-female institution. Distinct from her peers, Lee eschewed traditional interests in fashion and dating, dedicating herself instead to her studies and writing. She became a member of the literary honor society and participated in the glee club.

Later, she transferred to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, where her individuality continued to shine. Although she joined a sorority temporarily, Lee was primarily focused on her writing, contributing to the university’s newspaper and humor magazine, The Rammer Jammer, eventually becoming its editor. In her junior year, she was accepted into the law school, which allowed undergraduates to pursue law degrees. However, after one year, Lee recognized that her true calling lay in writing. In pursuit of this passion, she spent a summer as an exchange student at the University of Oxford in England before leaving law school altogether.

Early Writing Career

At the age of 23, Lee moved to New York City in 1949, where she faced initial challenges as she worked various jobs, including as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines. During this time, she formed a close friendship with Broadway composer Michael Martin Brown and his wife, Joy. In 1956, the Browns gifted her a year’s financial support to allow her to write full-time, enabling her to focus solely on her craft.

With their assistance, Lee secured an agent, Maurice Crain, who connected her with the J.B. Lippincott Company. Under the guidance of editor Tay Hohoff, Lee developed her manuscript, which would ultimately become To Kill a Mockingbird.

Friendship with Truman Capote

Lee’s friendship with Truman Capote, a fellow writer, began in their childhood. While Capote faced bullying due to his sensitive nature and flamboyant style, Lee often acted as his protector. The two shared tumultuous home lives, with Capote largely abandoned by his parents and living with relatives in Monroeville.

Reunited in New York City during the 1950s, Lee assisted Capote with an article he was writing for The New Yorker about the murder of the Clutter family in Kansas. Traveling to Kansas together, they conducted interviews with locals, friends, and family members of the victims, as well as investigators. Lee’s approachable demeanor helped to ease tensions during these sensitive interviews, while Capote’s more theatrical personality initially hindered his rapport with the townsfolk.

During their time in Kansas, Lee and Capote had the opportunity to interview the suspects, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, shortly after their arrest. Upon returning to New York, Lee continued to refine her novel while Capote began to shape his article into In Cold Blood. Although Lee contributed significantly to Capote’s research, a rift developed between the two after the publication of Capote’s book. While he dedicated the work to Lee, he failed to acknowledge her contributions, which caused her considerable hurt. Despite this, their friendship endured until Capote’s death.

Books

In her lifetime, Harper Lee published two novels: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) and Go Set a Watchman (2015). She also collaborated intermittently with Capote on In Cold Blood (1966).

To Kill a Mockingbird

Upon its release in July 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird quickly gained critical acclaim, being selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Literary Guild. A condensed version of the novel was featured in Reader’s Digest, and it won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. Recognized as a classic of American literature, the novel has been translated into over 40 languages and sells more than a million copies annually.

The narrative follows the character Scout Finch, who, much like Lee herself, embodies a tomboyish spirit. One of the major plotlines centers around Scout, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill as they navigate their fascination with the enigmatic Boo Radley. Simultaneously, the novel addresses profound themes of racial injustice as Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, defends a Black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman in a prejudiced Southern town.

Go Set a Watchman

Lee’s second novel, Go Set a Watchman, was published in July 2015, and it represents an earlier draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. Originally submitted to a publisher in 1957, it was initially rejected. Lee’s editor suggested revisions that transformed Scout into a child, resulting in To Kill a Mockingbird.

The manuscript of Go Set a Watchman remained undiscovered until it was found by Lee’s lawyer, Tonja Carter, in a safe deposit box. In February 2015, HarperCollins announced its forthcoming publication. The novel portrays a 26-year-old Scout returning to Maycomb from New York City, revealing her father, Atticus, as a man with bigoted views, challenging the moral foundation established in To Kill a Mockingbird.

The release of Go Set a Watchman stirred significant controversy and sparked discussions among fans and scholars regarding the author’s creative process. Despite concerns about Lee’s health and the circumstances of the manuscript’s publication, Alabama officials investigated and found no evidence of coercion.

Through her literary contributions, Harper Lee left an indelible mark on American literature, prompting vital conversations about race, morality, and human dignity.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” Movie Adaptation

In 1962, playwright Horton Foote adapted Harper Lee’s acclaimed novel To Kill a Mockingbird into a screenplay, retaining the original title for the film. During the filming, Lee visited the set and participated in numerous interviews to support the project. The movie garnered significant critical acclaim, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning three, including Best Actor for Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch, a character inspired by Lee’s father.

Later Years and Literary Pursuits

In the mid-1960s, Lee reportedly worked on a new novel, which ultimately remained unpublished. In 1966, she underwent surgery to repair damage to her hand from a severe burn and later accepted a position on the National Council of the Arts at the request of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Lee largely withdrew from public life.

During this period, she focused on a nonfiction book project about an Alabama serial killer, initially titled The Reverend. However, this work never reached publication. Lee preferred a quiet, private life, dividing her time between New York City and her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, where she resided with her older sister, Alice Lee, a lawyer whom the author affectionately referred to as “Atticus in a skirt.” Alice served as a close confidante, managing Lee’s legal and financial affairs.

Despite her reclusive nature, Lee was active in her church and community, famously eschewing the spotlight that accompanied her celebrity status. She frequently utilized her wealth from literary success to make anonymous philanthropic contributions to various charitable organizations.

In November 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her “outstanding contribution to America’s literary tradition” during a ceremony at the White House. Her sister Alice once remarked, “Books are the things she cares about,” and Lee continued to read with the aid of a magnifying device, despite the challenges posed by macular degeneration.

Legal Challenges and E-Publishing

In May 2013, Lee filed a federal lawsuit against literary agent Samuel Pinkus, accusing him of orchestrating a scheme to deceive her out of the copyright for To Kill a Mockingbird, subsequently diverting royalties from the work. A settlement was reached in September 2013.

Later that year, Lee’s legal team initiated a lawsuit against the Monroe County Heritage Museum in Monroeville, alleging that the museum sought to exploit the fame of To Kill a Mockingbird by selling unauthorized merchandise related to the novel. Eventually, the lawyers for both parties filed a joint motion to terminate the suit, leading to its dismissal by a federal judge in February 2014.

In the same year, Lee permitted the release of her iconic novel as an e-book, signing a deal with HarperCollins for digital and audio editions. In a statement shared by the publisher, she expressed her enduring affection for traditional books, stating, “I’m still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries. I am amazed and humbled that Mockingbird has survived this long. This is Mockingbird for a new generation.”

Death and Legacy

Lee passed away on February 19, 2016, at the age of 89, in her sleep, as reported by her nephew, Hank Connor. Following a stroke in 2007, she faced several health challenges, including hearing loss, limited vision, and short-term memory issues, which led her to reside in an assisted living facility in Monroeville.

Around the time of her death, it was announced that producer Scott Rudin had engaged Aaron Sorkin to write a stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. In March 2018, months before the scheduled Broadway debut, Lee’s estate filed a lawsuit, claiming that Sorkin’s adaptation significantly deviated from the original material.

A key point of contention was the portrayal of Atticus Finch, which reportedly depicted him as more aligned with the oppressive racial sentiments of his time rather than as the novel’s heroic figure. Rudin countered this assertion, emphasizing his creative freedom to modernize the characters: “I can’t and won’t present a play that feels like it was written in the year the book was written in terms of its racial politics: It wouldn’t be of interest.”

The portrayal of Finch was softened, evolving from a character who “drinks alcohol, keeps a gun, and curses mildly” to one depicted as an “honest and decent person.” The play premiered on Broadway in December 2018.