In “Harper Lee: To Milk a Mockingbird,” February 5, 2015, I poured scorn on the media hype surrounding publication of Lee’s “newly discovered masterpiece,” Go Set a Watchman. Here is an excerpt.
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I enjoyed reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s classic 1960 novel about racism and criminal justice in early twentieth-century America, more than any other required reading in high school…
Therefore, you’d think I would be among those cheering this week’s breaking news about the publication of Lee’s purported follow-up novel, Go Set a Watchman, about goings on in the lives of To Kill a Mockingbird’s main characters 20 years later. Except that, having read about the dubious provenance of this sequel, I just feel like jeering.
To begin with, Go Set a Watchman is reportedly based on a completed manuscript Lee’s editor persuaded her to put aside in order to publish To Kill a Mockingbird. This alone raises far too many obvious, but now unanswerable, questions. Most notably: Why was Go Set a Watchman deemed unworthy of publication back then? And what has changed to make it worthy today … 55 years later?…
It requires a willing suspension of disbelief to buy her story about suddenly finding what neither Lee nor Alice could for 55 years. And Lee’s publisher is probably banking on such willing suspension of disbelief among fans of To Kill a Mockingbird to peddle other ‘long-lost manuscripts’ — as the New York Times hails this one so disingenuously…
I think the greatest literary fraud in the history of publishing is afoot, constituting a brazen betrayal and exploitation of one of America’s most beloved literary figures.
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Unsurprisingly, some among the publish-or-perish literati poured scorn on me for doing so.
But her publisher’s latest mercenary scheme should vindicate my cynical take and denigrate this publishing fake.
Her publisher is offering a special edition of Go Set a Watchman for $1,500.
HarperCollins Publishers announced Wednesday that 500 collector’s editions are available — leather bound with gold foil stamping, inside a velvet-lined cloth box. HarperCollins told The Associated Press that Lee, 89 and in frail condition, signed the books during the past few months.
(Associated Press, November 30, 2015)
How does this brazen exploitation of Harper Lee not constitute elder abuse…?
In any event, just imagine the scandal if, just months after publishing her final Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling’s publisher began peddling signed collector’s editions … for thousands of dollars.
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