Harper Lee - The Reclusive Author

In 1916, an American novel appeared, from a then-unknown writer, titled To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel told its story through the voice of a woman describing her childhood as a young girl called Scout Jane Louise Finch. She described her adventures with her elder brother, Jem, and their summer visitor, Dil Harris. Scout's mother died before the events of the novel, and she and her brother are raised by their lawyer father, Atticus Finch, and housekeeper and cook, Kalpurnia, a black woman of long employment by the Finches. It became an immediate bestseller, won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Literature, and was adapted into a 1962 motion picture, which gained eight Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture. Though it lost in that category to Florence of Arabia, it won awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor, Gregory Peck. Over the ensuing decades, To Kill a Mockingbird earned widespread acclaim. It became a required reading in American schools, its themes of racial injustice and relationships widely debated and discussed. Its writer, Harper Lee, became nearly a recluse, ignoring requests for interviews and appearances, writing little and avoiding the limelight. Not until 2015 did she publish another novel, Go Set a Watchman, which had originally been written as part of What Became To Kill a Mockingbird. Even the publicity over that event, and the public outcry regarding what she had done with some of her characters, did not bring her into public view. She alternated between an Inquiry in New York City and Monroeville in Alabama. The necessary publicity tours and appearances which followed the release of To Kill a Mockingbird did not sit well with Lee, and despite the urging of friends and family, she disregarded pleas to publish another book. Yet her life was active and long, and she remained a force in the literary world for decades. Not for years did it become evident that her first novel had been largely autobiographical, and the events that she related as fictional had, in fact, shaped her life, beginning when she was a six-year-old girl in the 1930s in Alabama. The characters she created, and the adventures they faced, became enduring symbols of American literature, bringing Lee lasting fame, though her subsequent life left her shrouded in mystery. A Southerner with the last name of Lee naturally claimed to be related to Robert E. Lee in the early 20th century. In the case of Nellie Harper Lee, that claim was accurate. Through her father, a Master Coleman Lee, a newspaper editor-attorney at Law and State Legislature, the young Nellie was a member of the famed Lee family. She was the fourth of four children, with her older brother, Edwin, the only one of her siblings close enough to her age to play together as children. Nellie, the name she used throughout her life, was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, where she spent her childhood. At an early age, she made friends with a yearly visitor to Monroeville, who came to town to spend the summers with relatives and live next door. Nellie later immortalized her childhood friend as the character Dill Harris, a small, somewhat effeminate boy, uninterested and ill-equipped for the rough-and-tumble play of other boys' age. His real name was Truman Capote. Neel was a tomboy as a young girl, preferring the company of her brother and Dill to that of other girls her age. She also loved to read. Nellie was taught to read by her father, and before she entered first grade, she read newspapers daily, discussing their content with her father. She also discussed his legal affairs and trials as they appeared in the newspaper. One such trial later served as an inspiration for events described in To Kill a Mockingbird. The south of Lee's childhood was the segregated, racially-divided region of Jim Crow laws and beliefs. Monroeville was a small town with little industry and little hard money. The Great Depression's adverse effects were deeply felt. Children played barefoot for the most part, since shoes were expensive and had to be saved for school and church. Children played games their older siblings had taught them or created their own. Schools, churches, restaurants, other businesses and playgrounds were segregated. The Ku Klux Klan remained a force in Alabama in the 1930s, a fact Nellie alluded to in her novel Goat and a Watchman, out of which To Kill a Mockingbird was formed. Racial segregation and race-hating language was a daily fact of life. Another fact of life was biting poverty. The Lee family was well-fed. The master owned the house in which Nellie and her siblings were raised, and his legal work was steady. Yet, many of his clients were unable to pay him cash, substituting barter or services in return for his legal work. It was another characteristic Nellie later attributed to Atticus Fitch, along with descriptions of fictional Maycomb and its denizens in To Kill a Mockingbird. Nellie completed her high school education in 1944 and attended an all-female college in Montgomery, Alabama for a year. She then entered the University of Alabama, where she wrote for the student newspaper and humor magazine. In 1948, she attended a summer program at Oxford University, paid for by her father in the hope that it would stimulate her interest in pursuing the law. The hope proved to be in vain. Nellie never finished her law degree, and upon returning to America, she decided to move to New York City, hoping to make a living as a writer. Finding to make a living, Nellie began working in a bookstore before landing a better-paying job as an airline agent. She also renewed her childhood friendship with Truman Capote. The preceding year, Capote had published Other Voices, Other Rooms, establishing himself as a leader of the literary community. One of his characters in the semi-autobiographical novel is Idabel Tompkins, a Southern tomboy of cantankerous temperament based loosely on Nellie Harper Lee. Lee herself wrote several stories for magazine publication, while at the same time working on a novel she titled Go Set the Watchmen. The novel took years to write. In December 1956, several of her friends gave Lee a gift of one year's salary, enabling her to concentrate on writing full-time. Lee delivered Go Set the Watchmen to her agent in 1957, who sent it to several publishers. Only one, Lippincott Company, showed any interest. At Lippincott, her work was reviewed by Teresa von Hohoftory, also known professionally as Terry Hohoff. Hohoff did not consider the work ready for publication, and she began a lengthy relationship with Lee, reworking the novel. The editorial process consisted of multiple rewrites, as Hohoff led Lee to shape the story into what would become To Kill a Mockingbird. The lengthy process frustrated Lee, who at one point threw the manuscript out of a window. When she subsequently informed Hohoff over the phone, the editor demanded she retrieve the pages. The Murder of the Clutter Family In late 1959, Capote found a brief article in the New York Times describing the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. Capote traveled to Kansas to investigate the murders, wisely taking Lee with him. Having been brought up in a small town herself, Lee was able to open doors and establish trust from those who otherwise treated the flamboyant Capote with suspicion. It was nearly six years between that first trip to Kansas and the appearance of In Cold Blood, which Capote labeled as a new genre, the non-fiction novel. Capote serialized the story of In Cold Blood in the New York Magazine, before it was published in book form. Though he dedicated it, in part, to Harper Lee, he did not acknowledge her contribution to the work, which included detailed notes that she kept during many of the interviews that the two conducted in Holcomb. Before In Cold Blood appeared in print, Harper Lee was a famous author in her own right. Professional jealousy on the part of Capote and his seeming dismissal of Lee's contributions to his non-fiction novel created tensions between the two long-time friends. To Kill a Mockingbird was published by Lippincott in July, 1960. Critics almost unanimously hailed the work, and it became an overnight success, shaped by years of hard work, rewrites, and lengthy discussions between Hoff and Lee. There was also speculation over whether Capote had contributed to the writing of Lee's book. This led to rumors that persisted for decades that Capote had authored the book in its entirety, fed in part by Harper Lee not publishing another work. Publication brought with it pressures on Lee for public appearances, interviews for print, radio and television, and other demands on her time. When Horton Foote was hired to write the screenplay for the film, based on a novel, Lee consulted with him, as well as with actor Gregory Peck, who portrayed Atticus Finch. Peck and his family remained friends with Lee for the rest of their lives. When Universal re-released the film To Kill a Mockingbird on DVD in 2005, Lee contributed to the liner notes. Referring to Gregory Peck, she wrote, The years told me a secret. When he played Atticus Finch, he had played himself. In 1961, To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize, an award which further strained her long friendship with Truman Capote. Capote's jealousy was not assuaged when word of her involvement within Cold Blood emerged, which included some rumors that she had assisted in writing the book. Lee retreated from the limelight, avoiding the social scene in New York in which Capote thrived. Pressure on her to produce another novel simply drove her to increase her reclusiveness, supported by her editor at Lippincott, who helped shield her from the requests for interviews and for stories about her private life. She maintained a New York address for decades on East 82nd Street in Manhattan, near Capote's home, but she also traveled frequently to Monroeville and other destinations. As the 1960s went on, the Civil Rights Movement and increased awareness of the racial issues in the South helped to Kill a Mockingbird relevant. In some schools, it became mandatory reading. In others, it became controversial. In 1964, Harper Lee stopped answering any questions about the book, regardless of how they were raised. She also refused to add an introduction to the book, as subsequent editions were printed, a position she maintained for the rest of her life. When President Lyndon Johnson appointed Harper Lee to the National Council on the Arts in 1965, she remained largely silent. She was not silent when libraries, school boards, and other entities threatened to remove her book from shelves and curricula, though. In 1966, a Richmond, Virginia school board determined To Kill a Mockingbird was an example of immoral literature. Harper Lee sent the board a signed letter in which she defended her work, and described the board's reasoning as Orwellian, quote, "...surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbird spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic that is the heritage of all Southerners." To hear that the novel is immoral has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of double-think. Throughout the decades following its publication, To Kill a Mockingbird struggled with those who would censor it. The Reverend In the 1970s, Harper Lee returned to Monroeville. She began researching and drafting a new book, tentatively titled The Reverend. Based on a murder trial, this time of a serial killer, she worked on it for a time before setting it aside unfinished. In Alabama, she socialized with family and friends, enjoyed playing golf, and continued to avoid reporters and other writers who wanted to interview her. In some ways, she was far from reclusive. She simply wanted, much like Greta Garbo, to be left alone. Her lifelong fear of flying led her to travel from Monroeville by train. When recognized, she accommodated those asking for autographs, sometimes with a brief complaint over the rudeness of the request. But she signed. According to her relatives and friends, in Monroeville, she worked on The Reverend for nearly a decade, still examining the records and reports concerning the case in the late 1980s. Whether she planned the work as a non-fiction novel, in the same manner as In Cold Blood or not, is unknown, since she never finished it, and the manuscript's whereabouts are unknown. By the 1990s, she had abandoned the project. In 1965, she published an article in McCall's titled When Children Discover America. The 1985 anthology, Clearings in the Thicket, included an article she had written and presented two years earlier, Romance and High Adventure. In 2006, she published an open letter to Oprah Winfrey, which appeared in O, the Oprah Magazine. Other than that, she remained mostly silent. In Monroeville, she found a community ready and willing to abet her efforts to protect her privacy. Family and friends would speak of her to reporters or researchers, but not regarding her opinions or her work. Monroeville, which had served as the model for the fictional Maycomb in her novel, came to celebrate the book without bothering its author. Tourism centered on the town's role in To Kill a Mockingbird became a significant source of income for the town. She neither supported the tourism nor participated in it. By the 1990s, the tourist industry in Monroeville included plays performed in the county courthouse, gift shops, and annual celebrations. When the town became too crowded and visitors' demands for her autograph too pressing, Lee escaped to New York, where she was, for the most part, anonymous. In Monroeville, though there were friends and family who tried to shield Lee from prying eyes, there were also those who tried to exploit both her nearness and her literary acclaim. On several occasions, Lee was forced to either take, or threatened to take, legal action. Her sister Alice served as her lawyer, having taken over her father's firm after his death in 1962. For the latter years of the 20th century, the sisters lived together in a Monroeville house. Though Lee was reclusive, she was far from a hermit, going out for coffee at various local businesses, engaging in long conversations with friends and neighbors, though she avoided organized events. She grew to detest the commercialization of Mockingbird and the tourist business which blossomed around town. When a gift shop near the courthouse, which had served as the model for the courthouse in the film version to kill a Mockingbird, announced a book for sale titled Capernaiah's Cookbook, Lee had Alice threaten legal action. Capernaiah was the name of the Finch's maid. The book was ultimately withdrawn. There were other legal actions stemming from former literary agents' machinations over copyrights and royalties. Legal work kept Lee's sister Alice busy in her law office. When some of the legal issues drew the attention of reporters from the northern press, Alice handled them, continuing to jealously guard Lee's privacy. At the beginning of the 21st century, To Kill a Mockingbird retained its long-standing popularity and continued to be the focal point of controversy. Most of the controversy came from groups decrying the book as immoral. Others complained of its depiction of racism in the Jim Crow South. Calls to remove it from schools and libraries continued, and in fact, continued to the present day. Yet Lee continued to receive accolades honoring her work, with some citing the book as ranking among the greatest of American literature. She also was honored for her work, much of which was in private, in supporting the humanities and cultural advancements. In 2002, Lee was given the Alabama Humanities Award. In 2005, the Birmingham Pledge Foundation, founded to support the values described in the Birmingham Pledge, intended to ensure equality and respect among all people, gave her their Lifetime Achievement Award. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian award, by President George W. Bush in 2007, honored for her contributions to literature. And she received the 2010 National Medal of Arts, awarded to her in a ceremony the following year by President Barack Obama. By then, Nellie was living in Monroeville, in an assisted living facility, dealing with declining health as a result of a stroke she suffered in 2007. She received visitors from her sisters, and from close friends and trusted library associates, always guarded closely by Alice, who, like Lee, had never married. Reports of her declining health appeared in newspapers and magazine articles from time to time, though there was no longer any speculation over when, or if, Harper Lee would produce another book. In 2015, it seemed that To Kill a Mockingbird would remain her legacy. Then a publishing thunderstorm struck. In 2015, the literary world was shocked by an announcement that a lost manuscript written by Harper Lee, a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, had been discovered in a safe deposit box. According to published reports, the still-living Lee had approved it for publication, under the title Go Set a Watchman. Government reports, which nonetheless precede a publication of the new novel, indicated it had been discovered as early as 2011. Speculation amongst Lee's fans and friends, as well as in literary circles, led to controversy. Lee had, by then, been living in an assisted care facility for many years, and the depth of her involvement in the decision to publish the book became a matter of debate. When the novel itself appeared in print, the controversy spread to the content of the story it told. Except 20 years after the events in Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman revealed Atticus Finch to be a stalwart segregationist, a believer in white supremacy, and an active member of the Ku Klux Klan in 1950s Macomb, Alabama. Critics quickly attacked the book. It was described as an unedited first draft of Mockingbird, rather than a sequel, with the two novels sharing multiple passages and scenes, in some cases verbatim. Lee's involvement with the publication of Watchman also became a point of controversy. She remained unavailable for comment. Statements in her name were issued by her attorneys or agents. Her sister, Alice, died in 2014, the year preceding the discovery of the lost manuscript. By the time Watchman had been announced, Lee was confined to a wheelchair, legally blind. Yet there were some, including those who claimed to be close to the writer, who asserted she was lucid, in control of her affairs, and had been active in the preparation of Go Set a Watchman for publication. A New Beginning On February 19, 2016, at the age of 89, and with Go Set a Watchman still the subject of controversy, Nellie Harper Lee passed away in Monroeville. According to news reports, she died peacefully in her sleep. Her funeral was held the next day in Monroeville, and like most of her life, it was conducted privately. She was buried alongside her sister Alice in a family plot, which also contained the graves of her father and mother. Despite the private nature of the services, her passing was always noted by media outlets across the English-speaking world. Following her death, the New York Times sued to have her will unsealed in probate court, in compliance with Alabama law. The document provided that Lee's literary assets, including copyrights, as well as most of her other assets, be transferred to a trust established in 2011, the same year some alleged Go Set a Watchman was found. One of the two trustees for what was designated the Mockingbird Trust was Tonya Carter, Lee's attorney of record at the time of her death, as well as the discoverer of the manuscript of Go Set a Watchman. Her will also distributed some of her remaining estate to a niece and three nephews. Tonya Carter was named executor of the estate. Thus, in death, as in life, Lee's private life, including her relationships with family and friends, remained closely guarded by the author herself and those she selected to be the watchmen at her gates. Whether other undiscovered manuscripts of her work remain, there have been hints, and are awaiting the proper time to be exposed to the light of day is unknown. It is still relatively easy to find websites which describe her as having written just one novel, ignoring the existence of Go Set a Watchman. It's probably safe to assume that if another work of hers emerges, it will be met with unbridled enthusiasm by fans of To Kill a Mockingbird, eager to curl up with another by the elusive Harper Lee.