The Land of Sweet Forever

Resumen del libro

Harper Lee remains a landmark figure in the American canon thanks to Scout, Jem, Atticus, and the other indelible characters in her Pulitzer-winning debut, To Kill a Mockingbird; as well as for the darker, late-'50s version of small-town Alabama that emerged in Go Set a Watchman, her only other novel, published in 2015 after its rediscovery. Less remembered, until now, however, is Harper Lee the dogged young writer, who crafted stories in hopes of magazine publication; Lee the lively New Yorker, Alabamian, and friend to Truman Capote; and the Lee who peppered the pages of McCall's and Vogue with thoughtful essays in the latter part of the twentieth century. The Land of Sweet Forever combines Lee's early short fiction and later nonfiction in a volume offering an unprecedented look at the development of her inimitable voice.

Covering territory from the Alabama schoolyards of Lee's youth to the luncheonettes and movie houses of midcentury Manhattan, The Land of Sweet Forever invites still-vital conversations about politics, equality, travel, love, fiction, art, the American South, and what it means to lead an engaged and creative life. This collection comes with an introduction by Casey Cep, Harper Lee's appointed biographer, which provides illuminating background for our reading of these stories and connects them both to Lee's life and to her two novels.

Biografía del autor

x{0026}lt;P x{0026}lt;B Harper Leex{0026}lt;/B nació en Monroeville (Alabama, EE UU), en 1926. En 1931, un conflicto racista acontecido en la localidad vecina de Scottsboro conmocionó a la sociedad estadounidense. Lee, testigo indirecto de los hechos, se inspiró en este suceso para escribir su primera y única novela conocida hasta 2015, x{0026}lt;I Matar a un ruiseñorx{0026}lt;/I , convertida hoy en un clásico de la literatura norteamericana del siglo XX. Amiga personal de Truman Capote, Lee decidió retirarse del mundanal ruido cuando alcanzó la fama. En 2007 recibió la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad de Estados Unidos por su carrera literaria. Premio Pulitzer en 1961, un año después el director Robert Mulligan la llevó a la pantalla en una inolvidable película que obtuvo dos Oscar de la Academia: al mejor guion (Horton Foote) y al mejor intérprete masculino (Gregory Peck). En 2015 se ha reencontrado la novela x{0026}lt;I Go Set a Watchmanx{0026}lt;/I (Vx{0026}lt;I e y pon un centinelax{0026}lt;/I ), rechazada por sus editores en su momento y una de cuyas tramas secundarias es la que dio origen a x{0026}lt;I Matar a un ruiseñorx{0026}lt;/I .x{0026}lt;/P