Talk:Harper Lee/Archive 1

message: I came to this article to discover why exactly Harper Lee became a recluse. It does not really say for sure. I would be interested in knowing that if anyone happens to know. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Birdsnare (talk • contribs) 13:15, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Why a recluse?

message: Is the word anticlimatic spelt wrong?
Is it "anticlimactic"?...yes it is. sorry unsigned comment by User:Emilgouliev
::You're right. Feel free to correct typos and other errors yourself. Dystopos 17:12, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misspelling? 

message: In the text body, the interviewer is Newquist, in the references it is Nordquist. Pls reconcile.
thug life  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.215.104.171 (talk) 22:27, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  New or Nord? 

message: Does anyone know what college Ms. Lee went to at Oxford and what she studied while there?
I believe she was studying law when she went to Oxford for a one-year exchange program from the University of Alabama. I can't find a reference to which college she joined. If this was before the colleges became coeducational, that might narrow the candidates down to a few. I think Lady Margaret, St. Hugh's, St. Hilda's and Somerville were women's colleges. Dystopos 20:09, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Charles Shields (Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee) writes she was enrolled in the Extra-Mural Studies Summer School program, "European Civilization in the Twentieth Century."  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.253.134.21 (talk) 02:39, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Oxford

message: I came to this article cause i wanted to know what was going through her life to start a new beginning of books etc. but it doesn't tell that much. -- unsigned comment by User:170.161.69.2, typos in original comment corrected by User:82.32.130.188
* Wikipedia limits itself to information that is verifiable. Since there is no verifiable information about Lee's literary ambitions (and not much about her private life at all), the subject is not detailed here. --Dystopos 14:31, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  What's going on? 

message: New York Times had a January 31 (2006) article with an update on Lee's life.--unsigned comment by User:160.39.187.226
* You'll note that a link to the article is already included in the "references" section. I didn't see much in the Times that would add to this article, but feel free to add any information you think is relevant. --Dystopos 14:30, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: NY Times

message: Our article claimed that Harper Lee was a descendant of the Confederate General. A reader sent an e-mail to the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association to confirm this. They advised: I regret that Harper Lee is not a descendant of General Robert E. Lee.  There is a chart of Gen. Lee's descendants on the Stratford web site www.stratfordhall.org.  Click on "history" in the left navigation bar, then click on Robert E. Lee, scroll to the bottom of his page and see the link to his family tree.  General Robert E. Lee has very few descendants, considering that he had seven children.  None of his daughters married and only two of his sons had children.  I hope that this information is helpful.
The claim has been removed from our article. Capitalistroadster 10:00, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: * I went back to see what idiot stuck that in there and apparently the idiot was me. The first reference on this page includes the error, but I don't know which came first and I don't recall where I got my bad information. Anyway... Thanks again. --Dystopos 23:54, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: * And now, the plot thickens. It looks like Encyclopedia Britannica claims this relationship in the second sentence of their article on Harper Lee. A brief Google search turns up several references (ignoring WP mirrors) to corroborate this connection. Perhaps there is a glint of truth and she is "kin" but not a direct descendent. It's better to make no claim than to make a false one. Let's see what we find out. --Dystopos 00:05, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: *Though it's been a year and a half since this has been discussed, one must consider that the "Lee" name extends beyond direct descendants. Perhaps Harper Lee could've been a descendant of Robert E. Lee without being a grandchild (perhaps a brother's grandchild, etc.), but at least this disputed fact is worth mention in the article. Perhaps with a mention that it is, in fact, something that is disputed.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zchris87v (talk • contribs) 08:36, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: * I would suggest this be done only if there is a clear citation available.  To me, its not that important a point if she is vaguely related, so a disputed claim about it is even less important. (John User:Jwy talk) 17:32, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: *In my opinion, there is no dispute unless there's a published source for the claim. --Dystopos 17:57, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: *Apparently, there are published sources (see above) that mention it - but it apparently doesn't go into detail. (John User:Jwy talk) 18:30, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Claims of descent from [[Robert E. Lee]]

message: * I tweaked the organization a bit today, creating new subheadings and introducing the use of the reference template to create footnotes. I hope to continue footnoting and updating the reference style. Any help is appreciated. --Dystopos 19:57, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Structure/references

message: I deleted the line " After writing To shoot a mocking bird she won the Order of Lenin.", due to its awkward placement in the article, the fact that there is no real place to put it in the article, and there is no source for this claim. Gsham 01:53, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Not to mention, it is false.  There is no record of any American having received this award.  Izaakb 18:54, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Order of Lenin

message: The novel was published in 1960 and the Prize was awarded in 1961. I feel that the actual publication date would be more useful than the Prize date, although the Prize certainly should be mentioned. Unsure how to deal with this without being too wordy, though. MichaelCaricofe 18:16, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Pulitzer Prize date vs. publication date

message: I am of the opinion that the infobox adds nothing to the article and causes aesthetic damage to the layout. Discussion? --Dystopos 01:46, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The main problem was that it was underpopulated. I added the most basic info with the hopes that someone would update it with the rest of the info. I'll let you decide whether to add it back in or not. -- LGagnon 02:04, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: In my opinion many of the fields in the template are irrelevent and that the box as a whole compares poorly as a vehicle for information with the text itself. It may someday make a reasonable frame for a photo if one surfaces. --Dystopos 02:37, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Infobox

message: According to the BBC's website today (june 26 2006) Ms. Lee is going to be breaking her silence to write a piece for the next Oprah Magazine. Say it aint so, someone, please.
* As the article states, she has taken no vows of silence, she has simply not completed a second novel. She has, since publishing To Kill a Mockingbird contributed numerous essays to magazines, though not at the rate that one would call "a writing career". --Dystopos 14:18, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Oprah!

message: Ah, beaten to it. HamillianActor 03:00, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Parenthetical at the End of the Last Sentence

message: What's with the line about the Black And White Ball of Truman Capote's?  Is it really a pertinent biographical detail to say that Ms. Lee was extended an invitation?  Not being a scholar on the subject, I may be missing something, but if it's really important, could it be fleshed out a bit to make it clear that it's more than useless trivia?
Nbiehl 22:25, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Black and White Ball

message: Have the vandals gotten so stupid as to not even know how to spell correctly?
Why vandalize a literary figure's biography article when you can't even spell?
With a handful of long stories harper lee did nothing to benifit society, she located an agent in November, 1956
Wow, really hard to miss that one, Dumbo.  Izaakb 18:50, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pathetic Spam & Vandals 

message: Deleted last line of "Fictional Portrayal" section.
:Harper Lee is hot!!
A deliberate double meaning, made to sound like a 14 yo boy's leering comment.  Besides which the few recent fictional portrayals hardly consititute being called "hot", especially as some are secondary characters.WikiLambo 19:59, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vandal or Just Silly? 

message: Harper Lee's birth date as listed in 1969 can't be correct since she wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" in 1960.  Please correct this (I'm unsure what her birthdate is).
208.146.45.110 18:13, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date of Birth can't be 1969 - please correct 

message: This article needs an editor who knows the subject and can consolidate repeated entries on the same subject matter.  BIOGRAPHY and ALABAMA Project people take note! Stepp-Wulf. —Preceding undated comment added 02:37, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Time for a BIG EDIT

message: "After graduating from high school in Weymouth[citation needed]"
While doing an assignment my instructor sent us to the  Chicago Public Library site
It states, "After she attended public school in Monroeville she attended Huntingdon College, a private school for women in Montgomery for a year and then transferred to the University of Alabama. After graduation, Lee studied at Oxford University. She returned to the University of Alabama to study law but withdrew six months before graduation."
Thought this might help if anyone would like to write it in wiki style.  I don't have the time. ;) Dprabon 09:25, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Early Life 

message: I just reverted the article. I see no evidence yet that she has died. Catbar 20:35, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Deleted notice of death

message: Sorry, but I noticed that it's totally centred around the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.  Don't get me wrong - it's a wonderful novel, but I think her life was not totally based around it.
Lady Nimue of the Lake 23:51, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Centred 

message: It says that Harper Lee's occupation is a novelist.  
She only wrote one novel and was mostly a writer.
:Re this recent edit on the same basis as the above comment:  If she wrote tons of poetry and/or non-fiction pieces and/or journalism, with one solitary novel in amongst her other writings, I'd be inclined to agree.  However, she's published very little else at all.  TKAM still represents a high proportion of her total published writings, so I think it's reasonable to call her a novelist.  --  JackofOz (talk) 20:12, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Her Occupation 

message: I would love to see some informed skepticism from a competent contributor.  The following quote from the article is consistent with many commentators on this topic, but it is illogical:
"Citing Lee's failure to produce another novel, at least one notable critic, Harper's editor Pearl Kazin Bell, has gone on record supporting the theory of Capote's co-authorship. The most compelling evidence against the theory, however, is a contemporary letter from Capote to his aunt, dated July 9, 1959. In it he indicates that he had seen Lee's manuscript but did not take any credit for it.[3]"
::The theory is that Capote wrote Mockingbird, but conspired with Lee to Lee to get the credit.  If the theory is true, then  Capote had a desire to conceal the true authorship.  If he had that desire, he certainly could have sent a letter to his aunt mis-directing her.
So the quote gives no real evidence at all against the theory of Capote authorship.
Meanwhile, there is huge evidence in the life of Lee that she was a pretty ordinary person, not one of the few exceptional people capable of writing Pulitzer Prize level fiction.
No other works
No career success outside of MockingBird
Lived as a recluse, no interview.  —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 57.68.49.4 (talk) 17:47, August 23, 2007 (UTC) 
:* This conspiracy theory and speculation only amounts to a claim if a credible source has published it. --Dystopos 18:00, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who really wrote Mockingbird 

message: Perhaps we should have a caption for the image of her, or a photograph of her alone.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.192.68.118 (talk) 16:50, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Photograph 

message: Does Ms. Lee still grant request for autographs of her novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird"? In years past, one could send her a copy for autographing with a postage-paid return envelope for return. I have been unable to find this information through her literary agent or elsewhere.  Thanks!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nwg54 (talk • contribs) 20:11, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  book signing 

message: I don't edit this page, but I have been contributing most of the content to TKaM and doing a lot of research for it. Lee has admitted, as reported by Charles Shields in his biography, that the Scottsboro Boys was not the incident she had in mind as the inspiration for Tom Robinson. Lee apparently wrote to an author in 1999 who wrote a book about Richard Wright (now I forget the name of the book and author and Shields' biography isn't right next to me) that said she had in mind something less sensation than the Scottsboro Boys incident, although it was one of many that stood to show attitudes of Southern prejudice. When Lee was 10, a man named Walter Lett was accused of raping a white woman near Monroeville. Lett was convicted and sentenced to death, but a series of anonymous letters saying he was falsely accused caused his sentence to be commuted to life in prison, where he died of tuberculosis in 1937. --Moni3 13:58, 16 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Scottsboro Boys incident 

message: How about semi-protecting the entirety of Wikipedia?  :)
izaakb   ~talk ~contribs 13:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Because it was originally designed so that all users would be able to contribute anonymously. --Moni3 (talk) 13:40, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  It's about time this art was protected. 

message: I just went to the local library and checked the entire May 2006 issue - it's not there. A quick internet search reveals that the issue is, in fact, actually the July 2006 article. Can anyone confirm this? --64.5.15.136 (talk) 20:13, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Went back to library, picked up July 2006 issue of Oprah Magazine, sure enough, it's there. Fixed incorrect/misleading information ("(May 2006)" after name of magazine) that was likely a victim of vandalism. --64.5.15.136 (talk) 22:28, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Letter to Oprah isn't in the May 2006 issue of O 

message: Look at the following recent two edits: .  Could someone who has access to the source that's cited there () verify that the text that's been added (to the quote) is actually there? -- Why Not A Duck 05:18, 6 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: There are significant problems with that edit 1. It changed it to make it look like that was part of a Capote quote which is false 2. It's a persistent rumor/speculation that most evidence aka verifiability points to as false (see To_Kill_a_Mockingbird#Canard_of_Capote_authorship and Letter Puts End to Persistent 'Mockingbird' Rumor. I have removed the text in question below. If the text is added, it needs to be balanced and verified per WP:VER, WP:NPOV, and WP:NOR
 --Jh12 (talk) 05:42, 6 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: What is "possible speculation"? I wrote the TKAM article, but don't interfere in this one, mainly because Lee would not appreciate it. However, any information about Capote authoring TKAM should be well-cited with reliable sources. Charles Shields' biography of Lee states that Lee and Capote's relationship chilled after she won the Pulitzer Prize. Shields speculates Capote was jealous. By the mid to late 1960s rumors were circulating about Capote's involvement in the book and he exerted no effort in dispelling them. By this time Lee wasn't public about her reactions, but Shields offers that she was very hurt by this. This is a BLP. Information that could be damaging should be removed until it can be verified and well-written. --Moni3 (talk) 13:21, 6 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with your points, but you did not write "the TKAM article". There were dozens (if not hundreds) of contributors before you were even registered on Wikipedia, and there have been hundreds of other contributors since you registered. 71.77.21.198 (talk) 22:11, 4 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Could someone check this source 

message: Did she ever officially change her name? because if not then shouldn't it be called Nelle Harper Lee? 24.17.211.150 (talk) 06:15, 16 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: the title

message: When Nelle and Truman met, he was Truman Persons. He did not become Truman Capote until was adopted and renamed.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.158.178.206 (talk) 00:06, 27 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: The young Truman Persons or Truman Capote?

message: While working on the Amy Bishop article, I ran across a strikingly well written comment submitted by "Nell Lee" in response to a blog entry at: http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2010/02/uah_dr_amy_bishop_holds_active.php ; and became curious whether this "Nell Lee" had written anything else interesting to me. Soon it became apparent that the writer was either Harper Lee (I found on-line examples of letters she had signed with "Nell") or perhaps an admirer or Ms. Lee, in a remarkably skillful homage. (I really do not much suspect the latter!) 
The comment itself is several paragraphs in length; too much to quote in its entirety here. 
Is this sort of thing worth mentioning in the body of the Harper Lee article? Publius3 (talk) 22:10, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I fail to see why you would even consider including anything related to the above. First and foremost, you have absolutely no idea who wrote the comment. I could have commented on the blog and signed it "Barack Obama", but that doesn't mean it was written by President Obama. Secondly, blogs are totally unacceptable as sources on Wikipedia. Read WP:RS. Thirdly, even if Harper Lee wrote the comment, her commenting about Amy Bishop is completely irrelevant to her article. She may have opinions on thousands of issues (and for that matter, she could have commented on thousands of blogs). Does an encyclopedia article need to be an exhaustive list of her thoughts and opinions about everything? In one word: No. And finally, is your goal to improve the article on Harper Lee, or to promote your work on Amy Bishop or (worse) your blog article? If you get a consensus here to include this so-called Harper Lee comment in her article, then you can do it. Otherwise, forget it. 71.77.21.198 (talk) 03:16, 4 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text:  In response to your guestion about my 'goal', I expected my question to elicit little more than a simple yes/no. I asked it because I don't know enough about the rules and procedures to have felt confident I knew the answer. Had it been 'yes' I anticipated that someone who is keen on improving the Harper Lee article would have proceeded with it. As for your apparent assumption that I have a blog article: I don't have a blog. Never have. And I am stumped why you would imagine that I may have attempted to 'promote my work'. This came across in a way that was slightly offending and slightly amusing/confusing. Is there a secret Wikipedia cabal that gets free ice cream or something if it somehow manages to successfully 'promote its work'? Publius3 (talk) 08:50, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

text: While it is compelling to consider that was written by Lee, Anon IP is correct in saying that blogs are not reliable sources per the WP:RS policy. A neutral third party source would have to say "that blog post was written by Nelle Harper Lee". We cannot include suspicion or conjecture about someone, certainly not a living person, even if the suspicion seems to be mostly benign. --Moni3 (talk) 12:59, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Nell Lee"'s blog comment about Amy Bishop