To Kill a Mockingbird

bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

“Go Set a Watchman”: A Lesson in Writing & Reading Fiction

Related Posts: Review: “Go Set a Watchman” Compendium on “Go Set a Watchman” More on Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” Lee, Harper. Go Set a Watchman New York: HarperCollins, 2015 ISBN 978–0–06–240985–0 Consensus is that Go Set a Watchman is the manuscript that Harper Lee originally submitted to publisher J. B. Lippincott Company in […]

“Go Set a Watchman”: A Lesson in Writing & Reading Fiction Read More »

woman reading

More on Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman”

Reactions to Harper Lee’s recently published aren’t going away any time soon. Here are some more that I’ve collected. Again, this list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but here I’ve included only those pieces that add something new to the discussion rather than just echoing what has already been said. I offer very short summaries

More on Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” Read More »

woman reading

Review: “Go Set a Watchman”

Lee, Harper. Go Set a Watchman New York: HarperCollins, 2015 ISBN 978–0–06–240985–0 You won’t envision Gregory Peck when you read what Atticus Finch has to say to his daughter late in this novel: “You realize that our Negro population is backward, don’t you?” (p. 242) “Do you want Negroes by the carload in our schools

Review: “Go Set a Watchman” Read More »

woman reading

As the Release Date of Harper Lee’s New Novel Approaches

As the July 14th publication date of Harper Lee’s second novel, Go Set a Watchman, approaches, she is much in the news. Here are a couple of representative articles. Harper Lee Receives Copy of ‘Go Set a Watchman’ as Release Nears Alexandra Alter and Serge F. Kovaleski report in the New York Times on an

As the Release Date of Harper Lee’s New Novel Approaches Read More »

On Novels and Novelists

On Novels and Novelists

What’s Changed, and What Hasn’t, in the Town That Inspired “To Kill a Mockingbird” In a long piece for Smithsonian Magazine, Paul Theroux describes a visit to Monroeville, AL, home of author Harper Lee and inspiration for the fictional Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird: Monroeville is like many towns of its size in Alabama—indeed

On Novels and Novelists Read More »

Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ May Have Been Found Earlier Than Thought – The New York Times

On the eve of the most anticipated publishing event in years — the release of Harper Lee’s novel “Go Set a Watchman” — there is yet another strange twist to the tale of how the book made its way to publication, a development that further clouds the story of serendipitous discovery that generated both excitement

Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ May Have Been Found Earlier Than Thought – The New York Times Read More »

bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

Literary Characters Disturbing the Universe

Literary Characters Disturbing the Universe In his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot wrote “Do I dare/disturb the universe?” Erin Haley looks at novels that present characters who dare to ask the same question as Prufrock. The main theme is independence, she says. Such characters “challenge the status quo.” Because challenging

Literary Characters Disturbing the Universe Read More »

woman reading

On Reading

I Read Only Books by Women For a Year: Here’s What Happened A constant topic of literary criticism (in both senses of criticism) is that the Western canon is populated by an over-abundance of dead White guys and that we don’t read or even hear about enough authors from the margins of society (e.g., women,

On Reading Read More »

Harper Lee’s Condition Debated by Friends, Fans and Now State of Alabama – NYTimes.com

Now the State of Alabama has been drawn into the debate. Responding to at least one complaint of potential elder abuse related to the publication of “Watchman,” investigators interviewed Ms. Lee last month at the assisted living facility where she resides. They have also interviewed employees at the facility, called the Meadows, as well as

Harper Lee’s Condition Debated by Friends, Fans and Now State of Alabama – NYTimes.com Read More »

bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing

My major life activities are reading (usually fiction) and writing (always nonfiction). So I’m delighted when I come across something that combines the two: something like Marcy McKay’s writing challenge What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing. Marcy runs The Write Practice, a web site and newsletter aimed at fiction writers, but even

What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing Read More »

Scroll to Top