by Kurt Anthony Krug
Legal News
Even though Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman – the sequel to 1960’s To Kill a Mockingbird, her first novel – is No. 1 on many best-selling lists, including The New York Times, it has been receiving negative reviews across the board.
“At first, I was eager to read it.... However, my hopes were dashed when I read more into how it came about. Not to mention the lukewarm-to-awful reviews. I was sincerely hoping that it would be another masterpiece. So even if circumstances of its publication were shady, as long as it was a great book, I would have felt much better about it,” said English/media teacher Robert J. Fox, of Ann Arbor, who has only read excerpts from Watchman ($27.99 HarperCollins).
Lee, 89, won the Pulitzer Prize for Mockingbird, her seminal novel that still sells 750,000 copies annually, has been translated into dozens of languages, is a fixture in American literature, and has become required reading in high schools across the nation. It was adapted into the 1962 movie of the same name, starring Gregory Peck. It also marked the film debut of Robert Duvall. The movie won three of its eight Oscar nominations, including one for Peck as Atticus Finch.
Set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Ala. during the Great Depression, Mockingbird is narrated by 6-year-old Jean Louise Finch, alias Scout. She recounts how her father Atticus, a noble and crusading attorney whom she adores, defends a black man named Tom Robinson who’s accused of raping a white woman. Even though the racist townspeople know Tom is innocent, he is still found guilty and eventually dies when trying to escape.
When Robert Fox teaches Mockingbird again in the upcoming 2015-16 academic year at Ann Arbor Huron High School, he has no plans to include Watchman. “It’s not enough to add another book with all the other books in the curriculum that I barely have enough time to effectively teach,” said Fox. “I would certainly considering using a supplemental excerpt or two.”
Watchman occurs 20 years after the events of Mockingbird. Set in the 1950s, it references the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, which declared separate educational facilities for black and white students are “inherently unequal.”
Scout is now an adult and goes by Jean Louise. She returns to Maycomb to visit her family and doesn’t like what she sees. It’s revealed that her older brother Jeremy Finch, alias Jem, has died of a heart defect.
What has outraged fans and academics alike is the uncharacteristic portrayal of Atticus. The noble, courageous attorney is now portrayed as a racist and aligns himself with the Ku Klux Klan, attending anti-black rallies. Jean Louise is devastated by this behavior. She feels all the beliefs and morals that Atticus instilled in her have been betrayed.
Jack Finch, Atticus’s brother, tells Jean Louise that Atticus isn’t racist, but is trying to slow federal government intervention in state politics. When Jean Louis confronts Atticus, he explains that black people in the south are not ready for civil rights. Not yet.
At the end of Watchman, Jean Louise makes amends with Atticus. She no longer sees him as an icon or a legend, but only as a man – a good man with his own flaws and imperfections.
Fox called Atticus’ characterization “shocking.”
“Although I realize that people change – and keep in mind, he was a white man from his time period, so it’s not completely off-kilter – but the fact it was an earlier draft as opposed to a natural evolution of the character rings false to me,” he said. “I think it's a mockery to the legacy of Harper Lee, her novel, and Atticus Finch himself!”
Numerous reports from numerous media outlets have stated that Watchman was an earlier draft of Mockingbird.
“I will talk about the book in the context that it shows the writing process. How an idea can evolve over time. It’s a great examination of the editorial process in publishing and stresses the importance of rewriting. I always stress how writing is rewriting and Watchman is a perfect example of how writing can get better through multiple drafts,” sad Fox. “In fact, I would have felt much better about this whole publication if it was marketed as a historical documen..., rather than as a sequel. I think that was misleading. I was certainly duped initially.”
Brilliant Books in Traverse City has been offering refunds to people who bought Watchman. The independent bookseller wants its customers to be “aware that [Watchman] ... is a first draft that was originally, and rightfully, rejected. The book, and some of the characters therein, are very much a product of this era in the South,” according to its website.
“This situation is comparable to James Joyce's stunning work A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and his original draft Stephen Hero. Hero was initially rejected, and Joyce reworked it into the classic Portrait. Hero was eventually released as an academic piece for scholars and fans – not as a new ‘Joyce novel,’” the statement says.
Adding to the controversy are the circumstances behind the publication of Watchman. A very private if not reclusive individual, Lee – who has declined numerous interviews over the years – vowed that she would never write another novel, much less a sequel.
Further, Lee is in poor health. She suffered a stroke in 2007 and is legally blind and deaf. She currently lives in an assisted living facility in Monroeville, Ala. In 2013, she sued literary agent Samuel Pinkus, alleging he exploited her age and declining health by tricking her into signing over the ownership rights to Mockingbird. The case was settled later that year out of court, the details of which were not made public. After the death of Lee’s sister Alice – who was also her attorney and handler – in 2014, the release of “Watchman” was announced in early February.
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