Nelle Harper Lee

Nelle Harper LeE

Famous Novelist

Jan Trautmann and Ben Roese

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.

Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird

Index

01. Early life

04. Fun fact

05. Works

02. Middle years

03. Origin of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

06. Death

01. Profile and early life

• Born on April 28, 1926
• Name: Nelle Harper Lee
• Mother: homemaker
• Father: newspaper editor, lawyer
• Defended 2 black men
• Siblings: Alice Finch Lee, Louise Lee Conner, Edwin Lee
• Grew up as a tomboy
• Became friends with Truman Capote
• Went to Huntingdon College and University of Alabama

02. Middle years

• Due to the succes of the novel, Lee became famous
• 1961, "To Kill a Mockingbird" won the Pulitzer Prize
• 1962, the award winning screenplay of the novel released
• Lee granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances
• She did work on a follow-up novel "The Long Goodbye" but eventually filed it away unfinished
• 2007, George W. Bush presented Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Lee the National Medal of Arts

03. Origin of To Kill a Mockingbird

Autobiographical

General

• Publisher and Editor Lippincott Company
• Her manuscript was not a finished novel
• Retitled from "Go Set a Watchman" to "To Kill a Mockingbird"

• Scout is inspired by Lee herself (tomboy)
• Dill is inspired by Truman Capote
• The trial is inspired by the legal defense of her father
• Parallels with Scottsboro Boys
• therefore Atticus Finch is inspired by her father
• Boo Radley inspired by a man who left things in his tree

04. Fun Facts

"To Kill a Mockingbird" was voted as one of the best books of the 20th century by the Library Journal

Her father was that thrilled with her success, he began signing autographs as "Atticus Finch"

When the novel was finally ready, the author decided to use the name "Harper Lee", rather than taking the risk of her first name Nelle being misidentified as "Nellie"

05. Works

06. Death

• Lee died on February 19,2016
• She died of natural causes
• Her funeral was held at "First United Methodist Church"

Sources

• https://www.biography.com/writer/harper-lee

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/harper-lees-novel-achievement-141052/
• https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-scottsboro-boys
• https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/arts/harper-lee-dies.html
• https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1825.Harper_Lee
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPr6LJlL98Y
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eGrjS2w5HQ

Thanks for your attention

Any question?