Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Harper Lee has died

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 176 posts

Re: Harper Lee has died

#101

Post by clock_tower »

jackbravo wrote: post #57
haberman wrote: post #13

I loved "To Kill a Mockingbird" so much when I read it as a kid. The moral of the story seemed really obvious. In the last few years I came across this article which blew my mind and changed my perspective about the book's meaning a lot: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/10/the-courthouse-...

What a great article. I specially liked this bit: Orwell didn’t think that Dickens should have written different novels; he loved Dickens. But he understood that Dickens bore the ideological marks of his time and place. His class did not see the English social order as tyrannical, worthy of being overthrown. Dickens thought that large contradictions could be tamed through small moments of justice. He believed in the…

I'm amazed that Gladwell didn't have more sense than that. Does he really think that someone who could fall for Communism could understand changing hearts and minds?

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POUM)

Re: Harper Lee has died

#102

Post by MuEta »

guylepage3 wrote: post #77
616c wrote: post #45

Nothing blew my mind in the last few years like discovering how close Harper Lee and Truman Capote were, as they were both authors I idolized at different stages of my life. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/books/harper-lee-and-truma... And that Dill was partially based on her childhod friendship with Capote. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee#Early_life This seems to be well established now in pop culture and…

Oh wow. I had no idea they were friends. Thank you for posting this article.

Although I'm extremely skeptical of the claims, there are theories that TKAMB was actually written by Capote. Interesting to read the evidence, but definitely on the less probable side of things.

Re: Harper Lee has died

#103

Post by MuEta »

guylepage3 wrote: post #77
616c wrote: post #45

Nothing blew my mind in the last few years like discovering how close Harper Lee and Truman Capote were, as they were both authors I idolized at different stages of my life. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/books/harper-lee-and-truma... And that Dill was partially based on her childhod friendship with Capote. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee#Early_life This seems to be well established now in pop culture and…

Oh wow. I had no idea they were friends. Thank you for posting this article.

Although I'm extremely skeptical of the claims, there are theories that TKAMB was actually written by Capote. Interesting to read the evidence, but definitely on the less probable side of things.

Re: Harper Lee has died

#104

Post by wetmore »

qq66 wrote: post #75
hn9780470248775 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take it you haven't read "Go Set a Watchman"...

Especially given the extremely shady way in which "Go Set a Watchman" was released, possibly against Harper Lee's desires, it would be fair to say that "Atticus Finch" should refer to the character in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

For sure. Having read a fair amount about the circumstances surrounding the release of Go Set a Watchman, it's sad to see that the widespread opinion is that it should be canon.

Re: Harper Lee has died

#105

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

clock_tower wrote: post #101
jackbravo wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a great article. I specially liked this bit: Orwell didn’t think that Dickens should have written different novels; he loved Dickens. But he understood that Dickens bore the ideological marks of his time and place. His class did not see the English social order as tyrannical, worthy of being overthrown. Dickens thought that large contradictions could be tamed through small moments of justice. He believed in the…

I'm amazed that Gladwell didn't have more sense than that. Does he really think that someone who could fall for Communism could understand changing hearts and minds? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POUM )

Isn't that essentially an ad hominem?

Re: Harper Lee has died

#106

Post by munin »

haberman wrote: post #13

I loved "To Kill a Mockingbird" so much when I read it as a kid. The moral of the story seemed really obvious. In the last few years I came across this article which blew my mind and changed my perspective about the book's meaning a lot: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/10/the-courthouse-...

if this article makes you angry enough to reconsider re-reading TKAM to attack gladwells arguments point by point, save yourself some time and just read this instead: https://newrepublic.com/article/51326/what-malcolm-gladwell-...

Re: Harper Lee has died

#108

Post by [deleted] »

edge17 wrote: post #74
cm2012 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are in fact being a huge literature snob saying that it's insulting to even compare the two. To Kill a Mockingbird was culture changing because it touched on such an important issue to American culture (race relations, etc.), while also being a well written book grounded in the human spirit. It is not objectively better written than ASOIAF, which has surprising depth and a keen understanding of the human spirit i…

To be fair, it was also culture changing because it was required reading for a lot of schoolchildren.

[deleted]

Re: Harper Lee has died

#109

Post by mintplant »

edge17 wrote: post #74
cm2012 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are in fact being a huge literature snob saying that it's insulting to even compare the two. To Kill a Mockingbird was culture changing because it touched on such an important issue to American culture (race relations, etc.), while also being a well written book grounded in the human spirit. It is not objectively better written than ASOIAF, which has surprising depth and a keen understanding of the human spirit i…

To be fair, it was also culture changing because it was required reading for a lot of schoolchildren.

The cause and the effect might be the other way around there.

Re: Harper Lee has died

#110

Post by moron4hire »

dvt wrote: post #39
3minus1 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer George R.R. Martin “Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?' 'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him.”

Not trying to be some literature snob, but GRRM can't hold a candle to the profound impact Harper Lee has had on American culture as a whole (not to mention that she won a Pulitzer and a Presidential Freedom Medal). It's almost insulting even bringing up a quote from ASOIAF.

Funny how people forget that the classics were once populist pieces.
Post reply on HN