Talk:Harper Lee

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Contents

[edit] Early Life

"After graduating from high school in Weymouth[citation needed]"

While doing an assignment my instructor sent us to the Chicago Public Library site

It states, "After she attended public school in Monroeville she attended Huntingdon College, a private school for women in Montgomery for a year and then transferred to the University of Alabama. After graduation, Lee studied at Oxford University. She returned to the University of Alabama to study law but withdrew six months before graduation."

Thought this might help if anyone would like to write it in wiki style. I don't have the time. ;) Dprabon 09:25, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Black and White Ball

What's with the line about the Black And White Ball of Truman Capote's? Is it really a pertinent biographical detail to say that Ms. Lee was extended an invitation? Not being a scholar on the subject, I may be missing something, but if it's really important, could it be fleshed out a bit to make it clear that it's more than useless trivia? Nbiehl 22:25, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why a recluse?

I came to this article to discover why exactly Harper Lee became a recluse. It does not really say for sure. I would be interested in knowing that if anyone happens to know.

  • She didn't exactly become a recluse. She just doesn't give interviews or write novels. She does have friends and family and she travels frequently. Dystopos 13:37, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Misspelling?

Is the word anticlimatic spelt wrong? Is it "anticlimactic"?...yes it is. sorry unsigned comment by User:Emilgouliev

You're right. Feel free to correct typos and other errors yourself. Dystopos 17:12, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] New or Nord?

In the text body, the interviewer is Newquist, in the references it is Nordquist. Pls reconcile.

[edit] Oxford

Does anyone know what college Ms. Lee went to at Oxford and what she studied while there?

I believe she was studying law when she went to Oxford for a one-year exchange program from the University of Alabama. I can't find a reference to which college she joined. If this was before the colleges became coeducational, that might narrow the candidates down to a few. I think Lady Margaret, St. Hugh's, St. Hilda's and Somerville were women's colleges. Dystopos 20:09, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] What's going on?

I came to this article cause i wanted to know what was going through her life to start a new beginning of books etc. but it doesn't tell that much. -- unsigned comment by User:170.161.69.2, typos in original comment corrected by User:82.32.130.188

  • Wikipedia limits itself to information that is verifiable. Since there is no verifiable information about Lee's literary ambitions (and not much about her private life at all), the subject is not detailed here. --Dystopos 14:31, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NY Times

New York Times had a January 31 (2006) article with an update on Lee's life.--unsigned comment by User:160.39.187.226

  • You'll note that a link to the article is already included in the "references" section. I didn't see much in the Times that would add to this article, but feel free to add any information you think is relevant. --Dystopos 14:30, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Claims of descent from Robert E. Lee

Our article claimed that Harper Lee was a descendant of the Confederate General. A reader sent an e-mail to the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association to confirm this. They advised: I regret that Harper Lee is not a descendant of General Robert E. Lee. There is a chart of Gen. Lee's descendants on the Stratford web site www.stratfordhall.org. Click on "history" in the left navigation bar, then click on Robert E. Lee, scroll to the bottom of his page and see the link to his family tree. General Robert E. Lee has very few descendants, considering that he had seven children. None of his daughters married and only two of his sons had children. I hope that this information is helpful.

The claim has been removed from our article. Capitalistroadster 10:00, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

  • I went back to see what idiot stuck that in there and apparently the idiot was me. The first reference on this page includes the error, but I don't know which came first and I don't recall where I got my bad information. Anyway... Thanks again. --Dystopos 23:54, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
  • And now, the plot thickens. It looks like Encyclopedia Britannica claims this relationship in the second sentence of their article on Harper Lee. A brief Google search turns up several references (ignoring WP mirrors) to corroborate this connection. Perhaps there is a glint of truth and she is "kin" but not a direct descendent. It's better to make no claim than to make a false one. Let's see what we find out. --Dystopos 00:05, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
  • Though it's been a year and a half since this has been discussed, one must consider that the "Lee" name extends beyond direct descendants. Perhaps Harper Lee could've been a descendant of Robert E. Lee without being a grandchild (perhaps a brother's grandchild, etc.), but at least this disputed fact is worth mention in the article. Perhaps with a mention that it is, in fact, something that is disputed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zchris87v (talk • contribs) 08:36, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • I would suggest this be done only if there is a clear citation available. To me, its not that important a point if she is vaguely related, so a disputed claim about it is even less important. (John User:Jwy talk) 17:32, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • In my opinion, there is no dispute unless there's a published source for the claim. --Dystopos 17:57, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Apparently, there are published sources (see above) that mention it - but it apparently doesn't go into detail. (John User:Jwy talk) 18:30, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Structure/references

  • I tweaked the organization a bit today, creating new subheadings and introducing the use of the reference template to create footnotes. I hope to continue footnoting and updating the reference style. Any help is appreciated. --Dystopos 19:57, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Order of Lenin

I deleted the line " After writing To shoot a mocking bird she won the Order of Lenin.", due to its awkward placement in the article, the fact that there is no real place to put it in the article, and there is no source for this claim. Gsham 01:53, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Not to mention, it is false. There is no record of any American having received this award. Izaakb 18:54, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pulitzer Prize date vs. publication date

The novel was published in 1960 and the Prize was awarded in 1961. I feel that the actual publication date would be more useful than the Prize date, although the Prize certainly should be mentioned. Unsure how to deal with this without being too wordy, though. MichaelCaricofe 18:16, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox

I am of the opinion that the infobox adds nothing to the article and causes aesthetic damage to the layout. Discussion? --Dystopos 01:46, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

The main problem was that it was underpopulated. I added the most basic info with the hopes that someone would update it with the rest of the info. I'll let you decide whether to add it back in or not. -- LGagnon 02:04, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
In my opinion many of the fields in the template are irrelevent and that the box as a whole compares poorly as a vehicle for information with the text itself. It may someday make a reasonable frame for a photo if one surfaces. --Dystopos 02:37, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Oprah!

According to the BBC's website today (june 26 2006) Ms. Lee is going to be breaking her silence to write a piece for the next Oprah Magazine. Say it aint so, someone, please.

  • As the article states, she has taken no vows of silence, she has simply not completed a second novel. She has, since publishing To Kill a Mockingbird contributed numerous essays to magazines, though not at the rate that one would call "a writing career". --Dystopos 14:18, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Parenthetical at the End of the Last Sentence

Ah, beaten to it. HamillianActor

[edit] Pathetic Spam & Vandals

Have the vandals gotten so stupid as to not even know how to spell correctly?

Why vandalize a literary figure's biography article when you can't even spell?

With a handful of long stories harper lee did nothing to benifit society, she located an agent in November, 1956

Wow, really hard to miss that one, Dumbo. Izaakb 18:50, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandal or Just Silly?

Deleted last line of "Fictional Portrayal" section.

Harper Lee is hot!!

A deliberate double meaning, made to sound like a 14 yo boy's leering comment. Besides which the few recent fictional portrayals hardly consititute being called "hot", especially as some are secondary characters.WikiLambo 19:59, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Date of Birth can't be 1969 - please correct

Harper Lee's birth date as listed in 1969 can't be correct since she wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" in 1960. Please correct this (I'm unsure what her birthdate is).

208.146.45.110 18:13, 26 February 2007 (UTC)Emily

[edit] Time for a BIG EDIT

This article needs an editor who knows the subject and can consolidate repeated entries on the same subject matter. BIOGRAPHY and ALABAMA Project people take note! Stepp-Wulf.

[edit] Deleted notice of death

I just reverted the article. I see no evidence yet that she has died. Catbar 20:35, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Centred

Sorry, but I noticed that it's totally centred around the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Don't get me wrong - it's a wonderful novel, but I think her life was not totally based around it.

Lady Nimue of the Lake 23:51, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

  • That is true, but most of the verifiable information about her life is. You are welcome to edit the article as you see fit, of course. --Dystopos 01:59, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
    • Furthermore, one could argue that it is the only thing about her that makes her notable enough to be in Wikipedia. Izaakb 19:43, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Her Occupation

It says that Harper Lee's occupation is a novelist.

She only wrote one novel and was mostly a writer.

[edit] No. of Copies Sold

The page claims that 15 mllion copies have sold.

However if you buy the actual book which was published a few years ago, it syas on the front cover that over 30 million copies were sold!!!

[edit] Marrige??

Does Harper Lee Have a Husband??
No. --Dystopos 04:59, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who really wrote Mockingbird

I would love to see some informed skepticism from a competent contributor. The following quote from the article is consistent with many commentators on this topic, but it is illogical:

"Citing Lee's failure to produce another novel, at least one notable critic, Harper's editor Pearl Kazin Bell, has gone on record supporting the theory of Capote's co-authorship. The most compelling evidence against the theory, however, is a contemporary letter from Capote to his aunt, dated July 9, 1959. In it he indicates that he had seen Lee's manuscript but did not take any credit for it.[3]"

The theory is that Capote wrote Mockingbird, but conspired with Lee to Lee to get the credit. If the theory is true, then Capote had a desire to conceal the true authorship. If he had that desire, he certainly could have sent a letter to his aunt mis-directing her.

So the quote gives no real evidence at all against the theory of Capote authorship.

Meanwhile, there is huge evidence in the life of Lee that she was a pretty ordinary person, not one of the few exceptional people capable of writing Pulitzer Prize level fiction.

No other works No career success outside of MockingBird Lived as a recluse, no interview. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 57.68.49.4 (talk) 17:47, August 23, 2007 (UTC)

  • This conspiracy theory and speculation only amounts to a claim if a credible source has published it. --Dystopos 18:00, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photograph

Perhaps we should have a caption for the image of her, or a photograph of her alone. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.192.68.118 (talk) 16:50, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] book signing

Does Ms. Lee still grant request for autographs of her novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird"? In years past, one could send her a copy for autographing with a postage-paid return envelope for return. I have been unable to find this information through her literary agent or elsewhere. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nwg54 (talk • contribs) 20:11, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Scottsboro Boys incident

I don't edit this page, but I have been contributing most of the content to TKaM and doing a lot of research for it. Lee has admitted, as reported by Charles Shields in his biography, that the Scottsboro Boys was not the incident she had in mind as the inspiration for Tom Robinson. Lee apparently wrote to an author in 1999 who wrote a book about Richard Wright (now I forget the name of the book and author and Shields' biography isn't right next to me) that said she had in mind something less sensation than the Scottsboro Boys incident, although it was one of many that stood to show attitudes of Southern prejudice. When Lee was 10, a man named Walter Lett was accused of raping a white woman near Monroeville. Lett was convicted and sentenced to death, but a series of anonymous letters saying he was falsely accused caused his sentence to be commuted to life in prison, where he died of tuberculosis in 1937. --Moni3 13:58, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

  • She was writing to Hazel Rowley, who wrote "Richard Wright- The Life and Times". I got this directly from Shields' biography. It's a great book!--71.231.190.148 (talk) 00:22, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] To kill a mocking bird

did you like the book to kill a mocking bird —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.211.152.161 (talk) 20:38, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

I read it from cover to cover, but couldn't find any instructions. They are very hard to exterminate and are leaving their droppings on my patio. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.73.197.152 (talk) 18:40, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] It's about time this art was protected.

How about semi-protecting the entirety of Wikipedia?  :) izaakb ~talk ~contribs 13:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Because it was originally designed so that all users would be able to contribute anonymously. --Moni3 (talk) 13:40, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Updated Information

I have one updated addition to this Wiki about Harper Lee. In the discussion of honorary awards, etc. This is from a press release issued by the Alabama State Bar on May 16 and picked up by The Associated Press on May 17 (Birmingham News published it). I only offer this so that an editor might be able to edit this material and include it in the current Wiki. Thank you.

Montgomery, Ala., May 16, 2008 – Alabama icon Harper Lee today was awarded an honorary special membership in the Alabama State Bar at a ceremony conducted by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb at the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building. The presentation was made during the induction of four new members of the Alabama Lawyers’ Hall of Fame. Lee was recognized as the author of one of the most widely read and internationally honored books of popular fiction ever written, "To Kill a Mockingbird.” The idea for presenting this one-of-a-kind honor originated with former Associate Justice J. Gorman Houston, Jr., who discussed it with Associate Justice Champ Lyons, Jr. Justice Lyons presented a resolution to the entire Supreme Court which unanimously voted to approve taking the action. In 2006 Lee received the state bar’s Award of Merit, presented for outstanding constructive service to the legal profession in Alabama. The 15,700-member Alabama State Bar is dedicated to promoting the professional responsibility, competence and satisfaction of its members; improving the administration of justice, and; increasing public understanding and respect for the law. BGC