Why did Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird) never write another book?

[Taverner]

Or is she pulling a J.D. Salinger, writing but just not releasing anything she's done?

FTR, To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favorite books, even though I was never raised anywhere near the South. It's simply the Great American Novel.

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. Well when you write the great American novel on your first try...

it's hard to follow that up

[Chan790]

2. There is a lot of debate on this topic in literary academic circles.

My favorite theory, not because I believe it but because it's batshit crazy, is that Harper Lee didn't write it; Truman Capote wrote it, thought it was not up to his reputation and didn't want it released. Lee, his lifelong best friend, tried to convince him that it was a great novel and he had it published in her name to prove her wrong.

I'm a believer that some people only have one book in them. Ever notice how many novelists write one great novel first and then release years of crap? If you wrote To Kill a Mockingbird why wouldn't you stop there? It's not like you're going to improve on it.

[Taverner]

3. Yes, definitely batshit crazy

I mean Mockingbird was just a little too autobiographical not to be written by Lee. Sure, I know Capote was supposed to be her friend in the book, but the styles are totally different, and there's way too much legal knowlege that would only be available to a daughter of a lawyer (Lee) or a lawyer herself (also Lee.)

[curse of greyface]

4. Your kidding right? You do realize she has written dozens of books since 1971.

Having written several long stories, Harper Lee located an agent in November 1956. The following month at the East 50th townhouse of her friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown, she received a gift of a year's wages with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Within a year, she had a first draft. Working with J. B. Lippincott & Co. editor Tay Hohoff, she completed To Kill a Mockingbird in the summer of 1959. Published July 11, 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate bestseller and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961.

After taking almost 12 years away from writing Harper lee penned Going Home. The novel contained many of the themes that her writing would become known for, including a focus on family issues and the impact of actions taken in the past on events of the present or future.

Since then Lee (using her pen name Danielle Steele) has written dozens of books. Lee has been a near-permanent fixture on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestsellers lists. In 1989, she was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having a book on the New York Times Bestseller List for the most consecutive weeks of any author—381 consecutive weeks at that time.Since To Kill A Mockingbird was published, every one of her novels has hit bestseller lists in paperback, and each one released in hardback has also been a hardback bestseller.

Lee also ventured into children's fiction, penning a series of 10 illustrated books for young readers. These books, known as the "Max and Martha" series, aim to help children face real life problems: new baby, new school, loss of loved one, etc. In addition, Lee has authored the "Freddie" series. These 4 books address other real life situations: first night away from home, trip to the doctor, et

Lee has been known to split time between an apartment in New York and her sister's home in Monroeville. She has accepted honorary degrees but has declined to make speeches. In March 2005, she arrived in Philadelphia — her first trip to the city since signing with publisher Lippincott in 1960 — to receive the inaugural ATTY Award for positive depictions of attorneys in the arts from the Spector Gadon & Rosen Foundation. At the urging of Peck's widow Veronique, Lee traveled by train from Monroeville to Los Angeles in 2005 to accept the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award

Twenty-two of her books have been adapted for television, including two that have received Golden Globe nominations. One is "Jewels," the story of the survival of a woman and her children in World War II Europe, and the family's eventual rebirth as one of the greatest jewelry houses in Europe. In the late 1990s, Lee refused to sell the film rights to her novels to companies that intended to market them for television, preferring to work toward a film contract. Columbia Pictures was the first movie studio to offer for one of her novels, purchasing the rights to The Ghost in 1998. Lee reversed course in 2005, reaching an agreement with New Line Home Entertainment to sell the film rights to 30 of her novels. New Line is expected to adapt the books as television movies or for the direct-to-video market

[mainegreen]

5. Danielle Steele?

:rofl:

[priller]

8. This is hilarious! Please, where did you find this?

Harper Lee = Danielle Steel????

[curse of greyface]

10. Wrote it meself

Full link with da pictures at http://weblog.xanga.com/Curse_of_Greyface/681777185/little-known-facts-harper-lee-wrote-many-books-after-to-kill-a-mockingird.html

[Forkboy]

6. You kidding? After the first piece of crap?

:hide:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. she was too busy baby-sitting Truman

:yoiks:

[Heidi]

9. Why do some people have "only" one child?

She did this beautiful thing for us. She owes us nothing, but we owe her much. :hi:

[curse of greyface]

11. Shameless kick for Danielle Steele fans. nt