Author Profile: Harper Lee

Harper Lee

BIO

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama, a city of about 7,000 people in Monroe County. Monroeville is in southwest Alabama, about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile.

She is the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. Harper Lee attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at the University of Alabama 1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University. In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City.

In order to concentrate on writing, Harper Lee gave up her position with the airline and moved into a cold-water apartment with makeshift furniture. Her father's sudden illness forced her to divide her time between New York and Monroeville, a practice she has continued.

In 1957 Miss Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company. She was told that her novel consisted of a series of short stories strung together, and she was urged to rewrite it. For the next two and a half years she reworked the manuscript with the help of her editor, Tay Hohoff, and in 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was published, her only published book. In 1961 she had two articles published: "Love - In Other Words" in Vogue, and "Christmas To Me" in McCall's. "Christmas To Me" is the story of Harper Lee receiving the gift of a year's time for writing from friends. "When Children Discover America" was published in McCall's in 1965.

In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two people named by President Johnson to the National Council of Arts. Also named to the 26 member council was artist Richard Diebenkorn Jr.

There has not been as much published on the doings of Miss Lee since 1966.

--- Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama.

--- Lee was the youngest of four children born to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee.

--- She attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at the University of Alabama 1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University.

--- In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City.

--- In 1957 Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company.

--- After being instructed to rewrite it, Lee worked on it for two and a half more years

--- In 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Lee's only book, was published.

--- In 1961 she had two articles published: "Love --- In Other Words" in Vogue, and "Christmas To Me" in McCalls.

--- In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by President Johnson to the National Council of Arts.

ARTICLE

Books, as we all know, have very short shelf lives these days. Most new books remain on bookstore display tables for only a few weeks, and on the shelves for a few months at best. When Oprah Winfrey chose Wally Lamb's SHE'S COME UNDONE for her book club a while back, the publisher had to print a new edition of the book because it was absolutely unavailable. To obtain a book two years after publication is rare; for a book to be accessible forty years after it was first published is close to miraculous.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is that rare book. Since its publication in 1960 it has never been out of print. And with good reason --- it is one of the finest novels written in this century, and one of the most widely celebrated and read.

And the question arises, from time to time, whatever happened to its author, Harper Lee? After she wrote the book, she dropped out of sight. She granted a few interviews in 1961 when the film was made, but since then very few people have seen her, and those who have, if asked, will politely change the subject.

A few years ago, when a 35th anniversary edition of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was being prepared, a publisher asked her to write an introduction for the book. She wrote, "Please spare 'Mockingbird' an Introduction. As a reader I loathe Introductions.  To novels I associate Introductions with long-gone authors and works that are brought back into print after decades of interment...'Mockingbird'...has never been out of print and I am still alive...It still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble."

We do know that she was born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama, and that she lived next door to Truman Capote. They were childhood friends, and that friendship continued until his death in 1984. She traveled to Kansas with him to help him with his research when he was writing IN COLD BLOOD.

We also know that Lee lives in New York, while her sister still lives in Monroeville.  She visits her sister frequently and is sometimes seen having lunch or shopping at the local Piggly Wiggly. But no one can (or is willing) to talk about her.

In an era when authors become instant celebrities, appearing on countless talk shows and at book readings and signings, she is an enigma.

But I think we can learn a lot about her by reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I think it is more autobiographical than we realize --- I suspect that she is Scout, that Atticus Finch is her father, and that her dear friend Truman Capote is Dill. That is probably all she wants us to know, and all we need to know.

--- Judith Handschuh