To Kill A Mockingbird

1. To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

2. Harper Lee • Full Name: Nelle Harper Lee • Born: 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama • To Kill A Mockingbird is her only published novel • She once said to her cousin, “when you have a hit like that, you can’t go anywhere but down.” • Many elements of the novel (the tomboy female, the setting, the realm of the courtroom) could be considered autobiographical, but she has downplayed this • Traveled with Truman Capote to Holcomb, Kansas, to research the murder case he would eventually detail in his famous book, In Cold Blood

3. The Novel’s Reception • “I never expected any sort of success with Mockingbird. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected.” - Harper Lee

4. Southern Gothic • A subgenre of the American Gothic novel genre • Like its parent genre, it relies on supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to guide the plot. • Unlike its predecessor, it uses these tools not for the sake of suspense, but to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.

5. Southern Gothic • Southern writers usually avoid perpetuating antebellum stereotypes • The contented slave • The Southern belle • The chivalrous gentleman • The righteous Christian preacher • Instead, they use classic archetypes but portray them in a more modern manner • Damsel in distress • Knight in shining armor

6. Southern Gothic • Notable feature: “The Grotesque” • Depicts cringe-inducing scenes (like the bigoted dialogue of Flannery O’Connor’s characters or the repeated mutilation of Addie’s corpse) • Even though these elements are gross, the characters are sympathetic enough for the reader to remain interested

7. Famous Writers of the Genre • Harper Lee • William Faulkner • Flannery O’Connor • Eudora Welty • Cormac McCarthy • Tenessee Williams • Truman Capote

8. Southern Gothic’s Reception • “Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.“ - Flannery O’Connor