Since this blog exists in large part a paean to the ideas and attitudes regarding truth and justice found in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, I have closely followed reports about the discovery and pending publication of a second Lee novel.
According to Miss Lee, the novel, entitled Go Set a Watchman was actually written before To Kill a Mockingbird. It is about "a woman nicknamed Scout, who returns home to Maycomb, Ala., to visit her father, Atticus." Readers of as well as those who have only seen the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird know those names and may even think of them as friends rather than fictional characters.
When Harper Lee submitted Go Set a Watchman for possible publication in the 1950s, her editor suggested that she rewrite it from the viewpoint of Scout as a young girl. She did as she was told and the result was To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee's publisher, HarperCollins, has scheduled a July 14 release of two million copies of Go Set a Watchman.
I intend to purchase one of them hot off the press.
I already have ideas about what I might find in the pages of this novel, and I'm looking forward to discovering how close to the mark my shots in the dark turn out to be. My anticipation in this regard is a direct result of having taught ninth grade English for many years.
Active reading is a critical thinking skill that involves not only reading a novel but considering what has been revealed and making guesses about what is to come as you read, much as if you are carrying on a conversation with the author. I endeavored to teach this skill to my ninth grade English classes in the 1980s and 90s as part of a unit on The Novel covered at the end of each academic year. The novel we read was To Kill a Mockingbird.
Those who have learned to read actively understand how easily that skill translates to and is useful in real life when following an unfolding news story. The developing story about Go Set a Watchman involves concerns about whether Harper Lee, at age 88, having had a stroke in 2007, and residing in an assisted living facility, is making her own decisions or is being manipulated by others to cash in on the publication of the rediscovered manuscript.
Active readers would be correct to infer from the tone of my last sentence that I do not completely trust the motives of Miss Lee's friend and lawyer, who discovered the manuscript, and also those of her agent, since both presumably stand to profit from the publication of a new novel by one of America's most loved authors.
That skepticism is another shot in the dark, the accuracy of which will be revealed as the story behind Go Set a Watchman unfolds.
Stay tuned to this blog for further details.
No comments:
Post a Comment