How Lucky was Harper Lee, Revisited

Late last year, after reading "Go Set a Watchman," I wrote a post entitled "How Lucky was Harper Lee?"

My point was that when "Watchman," essentially the first draft of "To Kill a Mockingbird," was published last year amid considerable controversy, it was met with a hail of criticism as to how terrible it was. But when Tay Hohoff read it in 1957 at the publishing house J.B. Lippincott, she took a different view and helped Lee transform it into what turned out to be a Pulitzer Prize winning American classic.



The change from "Watchman" to "Mockingbird" was so great -- most notably, but not solely, on the topic of racial prejudice -- that one can't help pondering the exact nature of Hohoff's role.

In an article published in today's New York Times, here's what Harper Lee's biographer Charles Shields had to say on that topic. When he first wrote and published his biography, without then having "Watchman" in hand, Shields said he saw Harper Lee as the sole author of "To Kill a Mockingbird, "as if it had sprung fully formed from [sic.] her forehead." 

But now, he said, "I see it in a different light. I see the influence of her editor, Tay Hohoff, much more now."

Shields went on to suggest that at least part of the reason Lee ended up writing a significantly different book was because "Watchman" was highly autobiographical. "I think she exposes more of herself than she really wants to," he said.

That may be, but one suspects Hohoff had other considerations in mind when guiding Lee in a significantly different direction.

Those interested in reading more on this topic might wish to consult a related New York Times article, which can be found here.