To Kill a Mockingbird
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Capote wrote mockingbird?
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Carrie
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May 30, 2014 08:40PM
Do you think Truman Capote wrote To Kill A Mockingbird?
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really? you don't mean to ask that, do you? have you ever read any capote?he could never have written this masterpiece!
Why you think that Capote wrote To kill a Mockinbird? There are stylistic reasons or other? How many books fror Capote you've read? Bye
No, don't think so
I'm just putting it out there since it is rumored that he did. I love the book. It's a 5 star for me. Lee never wrote anything else. It's well known that they were friends. I've read several of capotes books. In cold blood is a very good book.
Please. Harper Lee wrote Mockingbird. Let's not take a good woman author and debunk her.
Maybe your confusion comes from the fact that Harper played a major role in cold blood. Though I wish Harper had written a dozen novels, I am pretty sure she is the rare author who doesn't try to follow up a masterpiece with lesser works just to make a buck
She actually did write books after Mockingbird, she just didn't publish them. When your first book is considered the Great American Novel, where do you go from there?
I didn't say if I thought he wrote it or not. I was asking if anyone thought he did. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favorite books. And yes, true, Elizabeth after a novel like that is there even a need to write anymore?
Carrie wrote: "Do you think Truman Capote wrote To Kill A Mockingbird?"This was covered in detail in a biography of Harper Lee titled, Mockingbird. Harper Lee wrote it with the help of an excellent New York editor.
Capote was too self-absorbed to help her even had she asked. He would have demanded credit.
On the contrary, it was Lee who helped Capote, with research on his novel In Cold Blood. Right after TKM was finished, she traveled with Capote to the Midwestern town near the farm where the murders occurred and worked as his assistant, I believe without pay.
Capote was such an irascible cuss he offended practically everyone he met. Lee became his front man with key individuals, like the sheriff, enabling him access to material vital to Capote's book. She took excellent notes and typed them up. Capote's book could not have been written without Lee, and he barely gave her any mention in the book's acknowledgements. It should have been dedicated to her.
I think Capote was jealous of all the attention his childhood friend was getting from TKM. He was a huge attention whore and was probably used to being the center of attention.
Why? Do you think it's not possible for a woman to create such a beautiful book?
Lee never wrote again partially because of harassing rumors like this one. Considering the experience, as much as I love TKM, I can't blame her.
Marci wrote: "Lee never wrote again partially because of harassing rumors like this one. Considering the experience, as much as I love TKM, I can't blame her."Also her beloved editor died, which likely had an effect on her willingness to write. According to the biography I mentioned, Lee had an exceptionally close relationship with her editor.
I don't think many people know what a novel can take out of you when you go as deep as Lee went in TKM. She took on an entire culture. I suspect she had nightmares about being confronted by Southern "crackers" who wanted to string her up. I'm sure she had many death threats that we never heard about. It wasn't like her to broadcast her problems and seek sympathy.
The woman was a heroine in every sense of the word.
And Truman, whom she defended with her fists as a child on the schoolyard and was such a thrilling pal and playmate, betrayed her by not giving her credit for all her work on In Cold Blood. Think of the pain she would have to relive every time a newshound would ask her about this.
Monty J wrote: "Marci wrote: "Lee never wrote again partially because of harassing rumors like this one. Considering the experience, as much as I love TKM, I can't blame her."Also her beloved editor died, which..."
I hadn't known about this history. Thank you for the thoughtful insights.
Capote's In Cold Blood is a masterpiece - more so for his journalistic, non-fiction treatment of a novel - the advent of 'faction.' The structure of TKM is simply beyond Capote's capabilities. I agree with Monty J - the Mockingbird biography is the best guide on Harper Lee and the creation of TKM.Capote's relationship with Harper Lee and her involvement with him during the creation of In Cold Blood, I think, is faithfully portrayed in Capote the movie. Harper won a Pulitzer - something Capote failed to do and much to his displeasure.
I believe he did; stylistically "In Cold Blood" and "Mockingbird" are very similar in expository prose. That, and the movie adaptation, which Lee did, is horrible. Changes in characters, motivations, etcetera that were made for the movie would never have been made by a person who knew and understood those characters inside and out. Capote wrote the book and gifted it to Lee.
Lee and Capote were friends and she went with him to research In Cold Blood, but she wrote Mockingbird and I think it was the only book she ever wrote. How could you top it?
Obviously, at this point you know that Capote didn't write To Kill a Mockingbird... :) But if I recall correctly, I believe that Scout's friend, Dill, was loosely based on Capote from when Lee and Capote grew up together. Such a great book!
I think both of the famous books are terrific and I can see Dill being based on Capote.
David wrote: "I believe he did; stylistically "In Cold Blood" and "Mockingbird" are very similar in expository prose..."Perhaps that was from him 'borrowing' from her rather than the other way around? I'm just speculating but that scenario is as likely as the other...
Susan wrote: "... that scenario is as likely as the other..."Actually more likely, as Lee took copious notes during their interviews and typed them up every night. The arrogant Truman took none, saying he had a "photographic memory." There's little doubt of his genius, but even genius has limits.
At any rate, it is documented in the biography that Truman returned to New York from their trips back west with files of Harper Lee's typed transcripts of their interviews and research. There's no evidence that Truman ever reciprocated, or anything close.
I didn't start this thread, honestly. NO I do not believe that Capote wrote "Mockingbird". I think he influenced Lee, and certainly did read it and sort of "help editorialize it"…but NO Lee wrote the book. Lee also had based this on her life, on her family and on her relationship with Capote. She got very screwed by Capote in the end, and that was sad, for BOTH parties.
Of course not!! First of all, take a look at Mockingbird vs. the work of TC. Totally different writing styles! TC could not have written Mockingbird any more than Harper Lee could have written Breakfast at Tiffany's!
Sorry, but this thread is the dumbest ever. "In Cold Blood" is a bore, as over rated as "The Naked and the dead" by Mailer.
David wrote: "I believe he did; stylistically "In Cold Blood" and "Mockingbird" are very similar in expository prose. That, and the movie adaptation, which Lee did, is horrible. Changes in characters, motivati..."Where is your evidence for this?
Why even bother posting, Brian?
When they were children, Capote actually gave himself a birthday party that was interrupted by the KKK, since they thought it was going to be multi-racial. Shelley
http://dustbowlstory.wordpress.com
Carrie wrote: "I'm just putting it out there since it is rumored that he did. I love the book. It's a 5 star for me. Lee never wrote anything else. It's well known that they were friends. I've read several of cap..."It is also rumored that Harper Lee wrote In Cold Blood. She did a great deal of the research for that book.
I absolutely disagree with the rumor of Capote writing To Kill A Mockingbird; the book is truly wonderful, and I feel terrible for Lee having to deal with the accusations.
Why would anyone even think this? I don't think this is Capote's style, even though it is Southern.
I absolutely believe Capote wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. He grew up with Harper Lee. I think he wanted to make sure she would have an income. I think she failed at every attempt to become a writer and I also think she was working on this novel, it was terrible, so Capote put it together for her. A true writer wants to write all the time. She never gave interviews, she became like a recluse. And I think that is because she didn't want to have to answer questions, or talk about the book. She may fear that the truth will come out and then how could she explain all those interviews where she talked about how she wrote it?
Capote was a genius. I wish he'd put his own name on it. It was a brilliant novel.
Kate wrote: "I absolutely believe Capote wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. He grew up with Harper Lee. I think he wanted to make sure she would have an income. I think she failed at every attempt to become a writer ..."She didn't like giving interviews because she was like JD Salinger, who also was a very private person.
She never married and was very much a tomboy. I'm sure she hated the idea of answering questions about her private life. She never dated during college, preferring to play golf instead of sitting around in pretty gowns waiting to be asked to dance.
There were rumors she was a lesbian. She had an abnormally close relationship with her woman editor, Tay Hohoff. Lesbian or not, would you want to face the press and paparazzi goons and their invasive questions?
Harper Lee did not "fail in every attempt as a writer." She was editor of the school newspaper. Hohoff and her agent, Maurice Crain, gave her a lot of help with the novel, but the concept, the characters and the setting were hers. Capote only visited Monroeville a couple of weeks during the summer.
If you're going to assert that Capote wrote TKM, you need to provide something substantial to base it on.
Harper Lee is one of the most courageous American writers of all time, for she, like Scout, faced down her local community and shamed them, shamed all of white America, into facing their racism and bigotry.
On the flip side, it was Harper Lee who didn't get credit for helping Capote. This per an LA Times June 11, 2006, article, "The Escape Artist" about Charles Shields' biography of Lee, Mockingbird: "Shields interviews many of Capote and Lee's sources to show how impossible it would have been for Capote to write In Cold Blood without her, although she received virtually no credit when the entire 135,000-word narrative was published in the New Yorker in 1965. 'Truman's failure to appreciate her,' writes Shields, 'was more than an oversight or a letdown. It was a betrayal.'"
Capote was indeed a genius though, and capable of emulating anyone else's style that struck his fancy. But I doubt his equally prodigious ego would have allowed him to do such a thing without taking credit.
Elizabeth wrote: "She actually did write books after Mockingbird, she just didn't publish them. When your first book is considered the Great American Novel, where do you go from there?"
I have always suspected (dreamed) that she wrote a sequel and just sat on it. Can you imagine?????? That would be a literary H bomb. I further suspect that her partner will release the books when she dies (if she outlives her, they are both pretty old)
Also, the documentary "Hey Boo" is really great and any fan of Harper Lee should check it out.
Boy, these self-important authors sure can find a way to inject melodrama into their dull, drab, boring, mundane lives, can't they?I'll bet both of those two used to lay around in bed (Though not with each other, of curse) imagining there was someone in a white robe and a hood lurking in the closet waiting to jump out and fulfil all their martyrdom fantasies by lynching them, but in reality none of the "Crackers" that Lee might have been scared of, would ever have even heard of her book much less read it (though I'm sure the idea gives Yankee liberals something to wring their hands and whimper about even to this day, just as they did over "Uncle Tom's Cabin"...)
No. it's quite the reverse. While Capote and Harper Lee were great friends, the standard writer's answer is that Harper lee wrote "In Cold Blood." And I agree...
I write. I have tons of writing in ratty old notebooks. If I published one thing, that doesn't mean everything else I wrote is saleable or even that I wrote it all for anyone but myself. She wrote her own book.
Monty J wrote: "Carrie wrote: "Do you think Truman Capote wrote To Kill A Mockingbird?"This was covered in detail in a biography of Harper Lee titled, Mockingbird. Harper Lee wrote it with the help of an excelle..."
Plus, on top of ALL the leg work done for In Cold Blood, he gave the credit supposedly to his lover instead of her.
Lisa,I thought I was the only one who knew about the green-edged ones...lol
Stephen wrote: "Lisa,I thought I was the only one who knew about the green-edged ones...lol"
Hahaha. :) I'm just glad to know it wasn't caused by the pistachios I used to eat while reading before I took up smoking. Do they even make the green ones anymore? I've quit smoking so, since our daughter is allergic to nuts, I need a new reading snack anyway. I'm thinking Red Hots. :) (I still think Harper Lee wroth To Kill a Mockingbird - just to keep this on-topic.)
Aside from all the evidence we have from editors who were involved in the development of To Kill a Mockingbird and the fact that Capote was himself quite busy at that time with his own work (Breakfast at Tiffany's) I find it difficult to believe that Capote would not have revealed his involvement in Harper Lee's work had he been anything other than a character in it.
Her wiki entry has a statement from Lee as to why she never wrote again. Sorry I can't cut and paste it here: I'm on a 1st gen iPad, and don't have that capability.Of course she wrote her own book. I had no idea she helped so much with In Cold Blood. Maybe CAPOTE used HER writings, verbatim on some of that. Friends, many times, help each other out in that way. There are quite a few papers, resumes, etc, out there I prob should have laid claim to ;) But, friends help. It's one of the things they do.
Meran, Here it is,
In a 2011 interview with an Australian newspaper, Lee's close friend, Rev. Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, said Lee now lives in an assisted-living facility, wheelchair bound, partially blind and deaf, and suffering from memory loss. Butts also shared that Lee told him why she never wrote again, "Two reasons: one, I wouldn't go through the pressure and publicity I went through with To Kill a Mockingbird for any amount of money. Second, I have said what I wanted to say and I will not say it again."[17]
Harper Lee seems very similar to Emily Dickenson, probably on many levels, who only published seven poems during her lifetime. Ms Lee has two manuscripts stored away as "unfinished" and "unsuitable" which I suspect will see the light of day when she - may it be many years in the future - finally passes.Her reputation, as did Dickenson's, will only grow as time goes on...
I was shocked when I heard mention of the rumor. I saw it discussed on C-Span during a BookTV presentation only a couple weeks back, by her biographer. I'm not sure we'll ever know about the Capote-Lee affair, as it were, but I do believe that the post-publication behavior of copyright thieves is very telling. I was a victim of copyright theft for a feature film where the writer, to this day, has never openly talked about [his/her] genesis of the idea, the characters, etc., despite the accolades the film received. I have also been stolen from by an off-Broadway writer who couldn't seem to get enough attention for [his] work and who created a Wikipedia page to brag about it, as if the accolades were not enough.
I find that writers who steal are tortured by their theft; they either don't want any attention at all, or even the attention they are getting is not enough and they do what they can to drum up more discussion about their "gifts." I can spot a copyright thief from a mile away. However, I truly hope this isn't true about Harper Lee.
Fame is a bad thing in this country, because the desire for it is too strong in people--to a degree that they will lose their souls in the process of acquiring it.
I truly believe this is one of those rumours that gathers speed and enormity like a snowball rolling down a hill. Perhaps the experience of writing and releasing a book as profound as TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was enough for her. It doesn't mean she didn't write it. And most writers have some kind of help from other writers, even if it's only to point out those annoying typos.
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