“To Kill a Mockingbird” debuted 55 years ago, and this summer, its sequel is set to hit shelves.
In the mid-1950s, Harper Lee, author of the famed novel, wrote “Go Set a Watchman” — which featured a female adult character named Scout.
But her editor responded more to Scout’s flashbacks to childhood and persuaded her to change the novel’s point of view, Lee said in a press release.
A “first-time writer,” Lee took her editor’s advice and penned “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
The original manuscript of “Go Set a Watchman” was thought to have been lost. But it was discovered in the fall of 2014 by Lee’s lawyer, Tonja Carter.
“After much thought and hesitation I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication,” Lee said in the release.
“Go Set a Watchman” is said to focus on Scout’s relationship with her father, Atticus, and the struggles of adulthood in the mid-1950s.
According to HarperCollins Publishers, the book will be published July 14, and its release is stirring conflicting opinions.
Stephanie Smith, associate chair, undergraduate coordinator and professor for the UF English Department, said “To Kill a Mockingbird” has endured as a classic because of the subjects it tackled, such as Jim Crowism in southern courtrooms.
“But I think more than that in some respects, it’s the voice of Scout,” she said. “It’s her innocent perspective on what adults are doing that allows, or allowed, for criticism that couldn’t do it in other ways.”
Bailey Ruark, a UF English and zoology junior, said the popularity of “To Kill a Mockingbird” in schools has cemented it in American culture.
“It’s one of those things that kind of becomes the foundation: the thing that you’re taught is good and then everything else is either good in comparison or pales in comparison to it,” Ruark, 20, said.
While Smith said she will probably read the book, she worries how willing Lee is to publish the sequel.
After Lee, 88, had a stroke in 2007, she was moved to an assisted care facility. Lee’s sister, Alice, worked as her lawyer.
In 2013, Lee sued her literary agent, Samuel Pinkus, for taking advantage of her health and tricking her into signing a contract that would pass her copyright for “To Kill a Mockingbird” to him. The case was settled out of court.
Alice Lee passed away in November 2014, and the announcement of a new book is suspicious to some.
“She always said she only had one book in her; she only had one story and that was Atticus’ story,” Smith said.
Smith said this could affect sales and how people react to the sequel.
“If this book has the same grace and substance of the first book, then yeah, of course I’m excited,” she said. “But I also think that elder abuse is a big problem, and this is just a very high profile case of that problem.”
“She gave us a gift, and this is the way we treat her? It’s just not right,” she added.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 2/4/2015 under the headline “Harper Lee’s sequel excites UF bookworms"]
