Quote:
Originally Posted by kennyc
Well, here we go....
Entertainment Weekly:
"...Look, I’m very aware of the fact that no reviewer is going to be able to stop the Watchman juggernaut. I just want people to understand two things: First, this is all about the money. And second, reading Watchman will forever tarnish your memories of one of the most beloved books in American literature. D+"
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/14...-lee-ew-review |
Pretty harsh review.
So TKaM is a first draft of a book that was scrapped. Not polished, not intended for publication. She's written other books she deemed not worthy of release, but this one is different because it is intimately connected to her one published masterpiece.
I'm not conspiracy minded, but I do think it's a little suspect that she decided after all this time to publish it. For most of her adult life Harper Lee was satisfied that TKaM is the version she wanted published and the legacy she wanted to leave. As late as 2011, she told an interviewer she'd said all she wanted to say with TKaM. (It can hardly be the money -- for Lee. TKaM is a perennial seller and she lives modestly. But obviously it's a huge deal for the publisher.)
Now, of course she could've just changed her mind: infirmity and impending death can change your perspective. They can also bring about personality changes, compromise your judgment, or cause you to forget your previous views and reasoning behind how you came to hold those views. The writer and atheist Christopher Hitchens told his friends that if they heard any report of his death bed conversion they ought to dismiss it as vicious slander or the ravings of an addled mind. Who's to say which is Lee's authentic intent, what she says she wants now or what she's always said for some 50 years? Preferably people without a huge financial stake in the book's publication. No I'm not saying these are nefarious characters who tricked a senile woman into signing things she doesn't understand. But I think it's easy to exert undue influence on a person while convincing yourself you are doing what they want anyway.
It does not help that all this seems to have happened following her sister's death. Could be a coincidence. Could be her sister was an autocratic and controlling person who kept Lee from doing what she wanted. But seems to me it is more likely that she was looking out for Lee's interest, honoring her lifelong wish, and protecting her legacy.
I'll probably read it anyway and try to keep in mind what the book is.