Harper Lee (1926- )

A selective list of literary criticism for the American novelist from Alabama, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, including signed articles by recognized scholars, peer and editor reviewed articles, and web sites that follow MLA guidelines for web pages.

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The Big Read

National Endowment for the Arts Announces The Big Read, in which communities read one of four novels: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; or To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

National Endowment for the Arts Introduction to To Kill a Mockingbird, from Dana Gioia, includes short essays about the historical context, author Harper Lee, discussion questions, a teacher's guide, and more

Readers nominations for books for the original British version of The Big Read (To Kill a Mockingbird was in sixth place), from the British Broadcasting Company

Literary Criticism & Lighter Reading

"To Kill a Mockingbird: Then and Now." Educational materials on To Kill a Mockingbird, both the novel and the film, including discussion questions and information about the historical context. Prince William Network Distance Learning, April, 1997

"Harper Lee" entry from the Encyclopedia of Alabama

"Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day," newspaper article by Ginia Bellafante, NYTimes, 1/30/06 [ad-heavy]

"Looking for Harper Lee," an essay by Mark Childress on the personal meaning of To Kill a Mockingbird to him. Southern Living, May 1997

Biographical sketch of scholar Wayne Flynt, who was inspired to teach by reading To Kill a Mockingbird

"Hiding Harper Lee," an essay on our curiosity about Harper Lee. In Story South, 2005, by W. A. Bilen

"Why George Landegger Thinks Investing in Alabama Writers Is A Good Idea," on the Harper Lee award for Alabama writers

Removed Articles

"A writer's story: The mockingbird mystery." Overview of Harper Lee's life, in the (UK) Independent, 6/4/06 (removed)

http://www.missq.msstate.edu/sssl/view.php?wid=606 A bibliography of secondary criticism on Harper Lee from the Checklist of Scholarship on Southern Literature (removed)

http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/09/11/feat/feat.3.html "Harper Lee Still Prizes Privacy Over Publicity." Newspaper article in the Christian Science Monitor, 9/11/97 (removed)

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010814/ai_n13921013 'To Kill a Mockingbird is still relevant on race." Newspaper article in the Chicago Sun-Times, 8/14/01 (removed)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1115921.ece "Oprah Winfrey persuades Harper Lee to write after years of silence." Newspaper article by Andrew Buncombe in the (UK) Independent, 6/28/06 (removed)

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