Tuesday 29 June 2010

Mockingbird


I read J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Nell Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, those twin classics of modern American literature, at more or less the same time in my mid teens. I remember thinking afterwards, once I had discovered something about the authors in question, that they were the best of books to have written…and the worst. The best in the sense that both were an immediate commercial and critical success; the worst in the sense that the authors’ work thereafter would always be judged to the standards set by these monoliths.

To these two books I would add Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, but at least this did not have the same impact on his life that The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird had on the lives of Salinger and Lee, both of whom more or less stopped writing altogether, both of whom became recluses, hating the fame that their work had brought. I assumed they realised, in their different ways, that they only really had one great book inside them and that any further effort was pointless. Success for them was not a blessing: it was a curse.

I haven’t entirely changed that view. I did, however, read a very interesting feature article on Harper Lee by Sharon Churcher in The Mail on Sunday (Don’t mention the Mockingbird) which has caused me to partially reassess it. Harper Lee, whose book was published almost fifty years ago, grew up in Monroeville, Alabama, in the ‘Old South’, the pre-integration South, the South of Jim Crow. The racial bigotry witnessed by Scout Finch, the six-year-old narrator in Mockingbird, was essentially that witnessed by Lee herself as she was growing up.

It’s no secret that the novel has an autobiographical element. But it seems to have been much stronger than generally supposed, so strong that she came in for intense criticism not just from the community of Monroeville, who claimed to recognise themselves in its pages, but from members of her immediate family. The suggestion is from those who knew her well that this had a traumatic effect. Mockingbird is so authentic because it is so personal; but because it is personal it has also been deeply painful. There are some things that can only ever be said once.

15 comments:

  1. Ah so it wasn't the fame--it was something deeper. I've always said that someone making a public work fearing fame is a bit like Powell's inimitable line about comparing a politician who fears the press to a sailor who fears the sea. I personally never liked the word fear--rather I prefer the word pain. Pain is inevitable--both self inflected and outwardly discharged. Fear is but cowardice in the face of pain. If pain be present, let's just hope I'm not--though pain makes fewer guarantees than even joy.

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  2. An interesting way of putting it.

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  3. I have my moments--but now I'm going to hide under a rock...well till my next moment anyway.

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  4. Ana

    Just a short note and I hope it is not a stupid question. If it is [you are the learned one] please forgive the intrusion.

    Did you know that one of the other American great ones, the Southerner William Faulkner, also published a very similar novel to the Mockingbird by Harper Lee that you mention?

    The plots are virtually identical though I found Harper Lee an easier read. Faulkner [my old library is currently in storage and I have somehow forgotten the title but will try finding it for you] but anyway, Faulkner is more emotion filled and kind of more compelling in his judgment firstly, and defense in the second instant, of the old South.

    If you have read both, please do a comparison for us, will you.

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  5. Ike, please do not ever excuse yourself or feel that you are intruding in some way; you will always be welcome.

    I've read a little Faulkner, though I'm not familiar with the work that you allude to. Once you remember the title please let me know. I'll also do a little bit of background research of my own. Once I've read it, and re-read Lee, I will certainly attempt a comparison.

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  6. Thanks Ana

    I shall try my best to hunt that title down and let you know.

    My introduction to Faulkner was by a Professor in Literature at the Georgia South-Western in Americus, Sumter County GA seat and I pointed the similarities with Mockingbird out to him. He mentioned that there was some controversy at one time about who had really penned the theme first.

    Faulkner wrote some great stuff but you haver to know a bit of the South to understand him. This professor said to me that you have to know at least who Jim Crow was and of the existence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

    Good hunting. I shall endeavor to be first.

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  7. Ike Jakson has left a new comment on your post "Mockingbird":

    Thanks Ana

    I shall try my best to hunt that title down and let you know.

    My introduction to Faulkner was by a Professor in Literature at the Georgia South-Western in Americus, Sumter County GA seat and I pointed the similarities with Mockingbird out to him. He mentioned that there was some controversy at one time about who had really penned the theme first.

    Faulkner wrote some great stuff but you haver to know a bit of the South to understand him. This professor said to me that you have to know at least who Jim Crow was and of the existence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

    Good hunting. I shall endeavor to be first.

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  8. Ike, could it possibly be Intruder in the Dust?

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  9. Ana

    I don’t know yet. As I said my old library is in storage and Faulkner had his own full array of names for his works. It has been discussed by many.

    But I have my friends in Sumter County on the job right now and will get in touch with you soon. It may be the Intruder but I want to make sure.

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  10. Ana

    I am reasonably sure the book is Intruder in the Dust. Let me know when you have found it and you and I can compare some notes. It is as good as To kill a Mockingbird but more somber; pain mixes with love in the most bizarre manner as hate and love can.

    Happy reading.

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  11. Ana

    Here is a price list 4 U

    http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gmo2p1A2gDsJ:www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/william-faulkner/intruder-in-dust.htm+Intruder+in+the+Dust+William+Faulkner&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=za

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  12. Ike, thanks. I've had a look through précis of his novels and it’s the only one that seems to fit. Could it possibly have been a short story?

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  13. No Ana

    It is a full-length novel.

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  14. Anastasia

    My friends in Americus have now also confirmed that we are talking about Intruder in the Dust, and about the subsequent controversy.

    I am sorry that I am not at liberty to quote the name of the Professor because I have not discussed it with him. However, you will probably find that a comparison will reveal reasons for such. I don’t want to comment on the differences between the two books because that in turn may be left to you in your comparison.

    You may look into the dates when the two works were first published.

    Lastly, about my reference to Jim Crow and Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a previous comment I feel that I need to point out that I was not talking about you, Anastasia, when I said “you have to know about” but I was rather referring to the general lack of understanding even amongst Americans of today about that period. I bet if you ask ten of them in the street whether he knows Uncle Tom at least five will say “No, I never heard of him. Is he from England or something?”

    Do let me know when you find your copy of Intruder. I look forward to reading your comparison and your comments in general.

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  15. Ike, yes, of course, I understand that. :-) Yes, I will. I intend to take it on holiday with me and add a review when I get back in August.

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