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So, Harper Lee's "new" book is tragic.
Topic Started: Jul 13 2015, 09:34 PM (272 Views)
Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
According to most reviews at least.

Does seem pretty implausible that a whole manuscript could be "discovered" after having been lost for nigh on a lifetime. In a safety deposit box. Guess she lost the key, and couldn't convince the bank that she really was Harper Lee. Or maybe she just forgot that she wrote an entire book and put the only copy in a safety deposit box.

This is something that a healthy minded Harper Lee would not have wanted to see published. But whoever's actually behind this is cashing in, I'm sure.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Horace
Jul 13 2015, 09:34 PM
According to most reviews at least.

Does seem pretty implausible that a whole manuscript could be "discovered" after having been lost for nigh on a lifetime. In a safety deposit box. Guess she lost the key, and couldn't convince the bank that she really was Harper Lee. Or maybe she just forgot that she wrote an entire book and put the only copy in a safety deposit box.

This is something that a healthy minded Harper Lee would not have wanted to see published. But whoever's actually behind this is cashing in, I'm sure.
They did the same thing with Mark Twain, with Michael Crichton, with Tolkien and just about everybody else.

I refuse to read any of it.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
As far as publishing posthumous works go, they've got nothing on Michael Jackson. The King of Pop died in June 2009, and his posthumous album "This Is It" was released in October that same year.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Musicians suffer from this a lot - there are a truly astonishing number of recordings of Charlie Parker issued after he died, generated from amateur recordings made from radio broadcasts as well as by dodgy characters standing next to nightclub stages. Of course, the music is generally still fantastic, frequently better than what was recorded in studios, even if the recording quality is abysmal, so it's arguable that it was well worth releasing.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Just release everything and let the market and history sort them out.
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Axtremus
Jul 14 2015, 05:06 AM
Just release everything and let the market and history sort them out.
Says the guy who doesn't write.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
If you apply Aqua's approach to Franz Kafka, he'd be totally unknown.

I think the tragedy of Harper Lee is that they may well have taken advantage of an old lady who isn't well, rather than publish posthumously.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
John D'Oh
Jul 14 2015, 05:51 AM
If you apply Aqua's approach to Franz Kafka, he'd be totally unknown.

I think the tragedy of Harper Lee is that they may well have taken advantage of an old lady who isn't well, rather than publish posthumously.
Crichton's Pirate Latitudes should never have seen the light of day. He thought so, too; that's why he didn't publish it, and if he had, it would have fixed it up. It was a first draft, and they sent it to the printer as-is. Have you read it? It's complete and total shit.

You tell me that's fair to the author.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Horace
Jul 13 2015, 09:34 PM
This is something that a healthy minded Harper Lee would not have wanted to see published. But whoever's actually behind this is cashing in, I'm sure.
I agree.
I bet the movie rights have already been sold.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
When Kafka wrote it was much more physical effort, and much harder to reproduce. I suspect today's authors do not take quite the level of care that Kafka did when putting pen to paper. Hence a first draft in that time might well have been much closer to a finished work than today.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Mikhailoh
Jul 14 2015, 07:38 AM
When Kafka wrote it was much more physical effort, and much harder to reproduce. I suspect today's authors do not take quite the level of care that Kafka did when putting pen to paper. Hence a first draft in that time might well have been much closer to a finished work than today.
I don't believe that's necessarily true. In terms of the final composition, sure. This is an incredible generalization, but older writers did put more into their work. Absolutely they did.

But drafts are drafts, and each writer's different. Some guys slather on crap, and then once the manuscript is finished, they'll meticulously shape it into something publishable. Other guys agonize over every new page, but once they have that page down, that's the way you're going to see it.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
I don't think there's any question about the effort Kafka put into his work, however quite a bit of what I read of him back when I was a pretentious young man was clearly unfinished and not ready for publication.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
Haven't read it, but by all accounts, Scout is the hero in this book, while Atticus is portrayed as a bigot.

But you know, in the South of that time, that may have well been the case...My grandfather once made a black roofing crew quit their job at the point of a shotgun barrel, because times were hard and their weren't enough jobs for white men in this community to feed their families.

Yet, he would pick up a black hitch-hiker at the drop of a hat, and once on a trip into town, threatened to kick a white man's butt for picking on a black child.

Complicated is too simple of a word for those times...
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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Valdez
Junior Carp
Jolly
Jul 15 2015, 08:02 AM
Haven't read it, but by all accounts, Scout is the hero in this book, while Atticus is portrayed as a bigot.

But you know, in the South of that time, that may have well been the case...My grandfather once made a black roofing crew quit their job at the point of a shotgun barrel, because times were hard and their weren't enough jobs for white men in this community to feed their families.

Yet, he would pick up a black hitch-hiker at the drop of a hat, and once on a trip into town, threatened to kick a white man's butt for picking on a black child.

Complicated is too simple of a word for those times...
Nothing complicated about being self-righteous and bossy.


Juan
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Valdez
Junior Carp
Aqua Letifer
Jul 14 2015, 07:47 AM
Mikhailoh
Jul 14 2015, 07:38 AM
When Kafka wrote it was much more physical effort, and much harder to reproduce. I suspect today's authors do not take quite the level of care that Kafka did when putting pen to paper. Hence a first draft in that time might well have been much closer to a finished work than today.
I don't believe that's necessarily true. In terms of the final composition, sure. This is an incredible generalization, but older writers did put more into their work. Absolutely they did.

But drafts are drafts, and each writer's different. Some guys slather on crap, and then once the manuscript is finished, they'll meticulously shape it into something publishable. Other guys agonize over every new page, but once they have that page down, that's the way you're going to see it.
Older writers, post-Hemingway at least, used more acid on their words. Some would spend twelve hours taking out a comma and the next twelve putting it back in.

Editors spent more time with writers. I think two years with Harper Lee.

Juan
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