Harper lee biography new york times article

But who can believe it? This is escapist literature, spectacularly sentimental, and all the more seductive for coming in the guise of the realistic novel, conveyed by a narration that is sharp and often very funny, illustrated by characters so skillfully drawn that they are nearly convincing even when they act impossibly.

Even the jury’s guilty verdict is given a positive gloss at the end.

Harper lee biography new york times article yesterday

A sympathetic neighbor tells Scout that “I was sittin’ there on the porch last night, waiting. I waited and waited to see you all come down the sidewalk, and as I waited I thought, Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win, but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that.

And I thought to myself, well, we’re making a step—it’s just a baby step, but it’s a step.” This is propaganda, but for the right side. Lee is brilliant at this sort of thing; but when propaganda is brilliant, even for the right side, it is demagoguery.

WHEN LEE BECAME FAM