Wednesday, June 30, 2010

All this fuss about the book "to Kill a Mocking Bird", a novel I've never read, a film I've never seen, and probably never will.
An allegation I once read somewhere which doesn't seem to have made much impact - Ms. Harper Lee didn't write the book, it was the work of her friend Truman Capote, who gave it to her to publish under her name. If true, it would explain why Ms. Lee has never written another book.
The main weakness with this claim is the idea of Capote keeping his mouth shut about it all those years. Who could believe that?

If you read an interview with one of those "world-famous nonentities" who dominate our media, and they claim that their favourite book is "To Kill a Mocking Bird", you know that they haven't read a book since leaving school. I believe it was a set work at one time. The same is true of "Lord of the Flies" for slightly older nonentities.

4 comments:

fleming said...

I read both books years ago. Ive also seen movies or plays based on each.

They are timeless tales, because they impart lessons that are universal and core to what it means to be a human being.

Really Jemmy, you shouldnt dsimiss a book that you have never actually read. Shame on you.

Chris Hall said...

To Kill a Mocking Bird is an ok film but it does show it's age in terms of content and delivery.

I had to do Lord of The Flies in English but not or O Level, they saved Shakespeare and Dickens for that which of course means I haven't read either in the decades since leaving school, and never will, awful stuff.

Jemmy Hope said...

I had no intention of dismissing the Harper Lee book, flem. The point I was trying to make (badly, obviously) is that certain subjects and events are celebrated out of all proportion, and I usually wonder if this is another 'industry'.
I would cite as an example of this kind of hype, THE BEATLES. Everybody is supposed to love the Beatles and their music, and no dissident voice is ever heard on the airwaves or read in the press in this country. I don't mind the Beatles, but come on! Give it a rest, please.
Another example, England and the World Cup, though that is always a temporary bout of collective insanity.
Then there's Morecambe and Wise, a meaningless reference to you, flem. I'll just say that they made a good living as comedians who were never funny, and who are now revered as secular saints of some kind.

Jemmy Hope said...

I left school long before either of these novels were published, but I got Shakespeare too, Chris, and now I can't bear the stuff. Yet I hear him quoted all the time, our everyday language is full of his words and phrases. I keep thinking "What am I missing? Was the fault with me, or was it the way it was taught?