Why did Harper Lee write only 1 novel? (To Kill a Mockingbird)

[mom2abcd]

Anyone know?

[Remudamom]

I dunno, Margarite (sp???) Mitchell only wrote GWTW.

[mom2abcd]

Well, Gone with the Wind is long enough for about five books! LOL

 

I found these comments:

 

http://www.answers.com/topic/harper-lee

 

David Martindale, writing for the monthly feature "Where Are They Now?" for Biography magazine, interviewed Lee's cousin, Richard Williams. He shared, "I asked her one time why she never wrote another book. She told me, "When you have a hit like that, you can't go anywhere but down."

--

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mockingbird-Portrait-Charles-J-Shields/dp/080507919X

 

Eventually she met the right people, Maurice Cain and her editor from Lippincott, but she spent almost ten years working as an airline ticket agent and fumbling with a series of sketches about Monroeville before Theresa von Hohoff whipped her project into shape. Not surprisingly, when von Hohoff and Cain died, Lee completely lost her will to pursue her literary ambitions

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But nothing, not even her close friendship with Capote, could have prepared Lee for literary superstardom. Perhaps she lacked the naked ambition of her old playmate. A somewhat quiet individual to begin with (although friends say she has a wicked sense of humor), the glare of the media spotlight, the endless interviews and the pressure for a new book overwhelmed her. She bristled at the constant attention and scrutiny and retreated more and more to life as a private citizen, dividing her time between New York and her family home in Monroeville, which she still does to this day. When asked by a young relative why she had never written another book, she confided, "When you're at the top there's only one way to go."

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[elegantlion]

Here's her wiki entry.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee

 

Apparently she has started a few others, yet filed them away. Mockingbird would be a hard novel as author to attempt a follow up. I believe we all have at least one good story in us, perhaps she was content to let her one stand alone in its greatness.

[Mrs_JWM]

Charles Shields wrote a biography of Harper Lee in 2006 titled Mockingbird. I started reading it recently, but it didn't hold my interest and I stopped. One thing that struck me, though, was that he wrote in the introduction that she had tremendous support from friends, family, and editors that helped her to succeed. In fact, as mentioned in her Wikipedia entry, a couple with whom she was close friends gave her enough money for Christmas one year to live on and write TKAM. Shields felt that without this support, she would not have been successful.

[Zoraida]

My husband, an English professor, says that a lot of critics believe the book was really written by Truman Capote who was a good friend of Harper Lees. But this is only speculation and there is no real evidence that this is true.

 

Blessings

 

Zoraida

[OnTheBrink]

My husband, an English professor, says that a lot of critics believe the book was really written by Truman Capote who was a good friend of Harper Lees. But this is only speculation and there is no real evidence that this is true.

 

Blessings

 

Zoraida

 

That's interesting. Are their writing styles similar?

[Stacia]

My husband, an English professor, says that a lot of critics believe the book was really written by Truman Capote who was a good friend of Harper Lees. But this is only speculation and there is no real evidence that this is true.

 

I had heard that too. They (Capote & Lee) were very close childhood friends.

 

Here's something about it from wikipedia:

Canard of Capote authorship

 

Lee's childhood friend, author Truman Capote, wrote on the dust jacket of the first edition, "Someone rare has written this very fine first novel: a writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic sense of humor. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable."[103] This comment has been construed to suggest that Capote wrote the book or edited it heavily.[5] The only supporting evidence for this rumor is the 2003 report of a Tuscaloosa newspaper, which quoted Capote's biological father, Archulus Persons, as claiming that Capote had written "almost all" of the book.[104] The rumors were put to rest in 2006 when a Capote letter was donated to Monroeville's literary heritage museum. Writing to a neighbor in Monroeville in 1959, Capote mentioned that Lee was writing a book that was to be published soon. Extensive notes between Lee and her editor at Lippincott also refute the rumor of Capote's authorship.[105] Lee's older sister Alice has responded to the rumor, saying: "That's the biggest lie ever told."[19]

[kalanamak]

The rumors were put to rest in 2006 when a Capote letter was donated to Monroeville's literary heritage museum. Writing to a neighbor in Monroeville in 1959, Capote mentioned that Lee was writing a book that was to be published soon. Extensive notes between Lee and her editor at Lippincott also refute the rumor of Capote's authorship.[105] Lee's older sister Alice has responded to the rumor, saying: "That's the biggest lie ever told."[19]

 

I wouldn't trust a letter by Capote, and it sounds like something I'd do to throw off the scent. Nor would I trust a sister, but the extensive notes between Lee and her editor I'd buy.

 

I've never heard anyone else say this, but I couldn't finish this book and think it highly overrated. And I'm going to bed, so your tomatoes will just hit the wall in the computer room. :)

[cathmom]

When I was in sixth grade, my older sister was in eighth and had to read this. I saw her reading it and asked her, "Why would anyone want to kill a mockingbird?" She said, "I guess you'll have to read it to find out." So I did, and I loved it. I haven't read it in many years though, so I will have to reread it.

[MyThreeSons]

Capote really wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lee really wrote In Cold Blood. :D

[Jane Elliot]

That is my favorite book, hands down. I don't remember where I read this, but I remember reading somewhere that she didn't feel she could write anything as good as her first, so she didn't.

[sweetfeet]

My husband, an English professor, says that a lot of critics believe the book was really written by Truman Capote who was a good friend of Harper Lees. But this is only speculation and there is no real evidence that this is true.

 

Blessings

 

Zoraida

 

My mom tells me this as well.