Land of the Mockingbird
November 10th 2008 19:47
Hi everyone, and please forgive my absence, but a chance meeting with a book has caused me to be lost in the wilds of Alabama and the land of the Mockingbird.
A few months back I happened across the biography of Harper Lee, I Am Scout. I have been a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird for many, many years. Lee’s style has always mesmerised me to a degree that constantly brings me back to this book as an all time favourite. Few surpass her flare for genuine narrative.
But over the years I have discovered little about this author, and in fact Mockingbird: a portrait of Harper Lee and I Am Scout by Charles J. Shields seem to be the extent of biographies written about this American icon. So of course I soaked up these titles, relishing my return visit to the world of Scout, Jem, Dill and Atticus.
I was in for a surprise though … as these books introduced me to the real world of Maycomb, Alabama and those who inspired some of my favourite characters of all time
The writing of Harper Lee’s only novel was no easy task for her, and when you realize how closely it mirrors her own life and those in it, you can understand why. In fact, her home town of Monroeville considers itself Maycomb, and is proud of it. But the knowledge that Dill, Scout’s citified, sissy neighbour is modeled after her long time friend Truman Capote sent me in another direction completely. It turns out that Harper Lee was a major contributor to Capote’s ground breaking non-fiction book, In Cold Blood. Of course, he is best known for Breakfast at Tiffany’s (currently on my reading list), but Blood counts as one of the most progressive non-fiction titles of its day. In fact, many consider it to be the fore runner of bestseller non-fiction.
An incredibly consuming story of the Clutter family massacre by two down and out crims, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, Capote became obsessed with the case and was determined to put together an account of the murder, trial and execution, detailing thoughts and profiles of all those affected in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas. Not an easy task when Capote lacked the necessary southern manners that would open doors. For although he spent his childhood summers in Monroeville, he had long ago left the south for fame and fortune in New York. The locals were wary and had Lee not been there to break through the all too formal protocol of southern etiquette, all he required would have been withheld. This book took 7 years to write and Lee, struggling to come up with a second novel, shelved her own efforts many times over the years, traveling back and forth to Kansas with Capote.
There have been two movies recently made about Capote and his wrestle with this book. Capote (2005) and Infamous (2006). I’ve seen them both … not preferring one over the other. Both directors seem intent on getting Capote right and I came away as intrigued as ever. The relationship with Lee and his eventual addictions and death is Hollywood material, but there is something sadder about his story that comes through in both movies. That of a young man who was passed over by his parents and the hurt he carried from the cradle to the grave. Somehow I feel Lee always knew and understood it.
Of course all this delving means nought if I fail to pick up Mockingbird once more and immerse myself in its text. This would be, at the very least, my fourth reading of the book and it never fails to please me. The innocence of childhood, the absurdness of bigotry and the shame of racism could not have a better stage.
Coupled with the election of Barack Obama to the White House, this is enough to give even a ‘human nature pessimist’ like me hope!
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Comment by Lady Henrietta Muddling
Potter in a Harry
I don't have anything else to add. I just enjoyed the post.