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Home , Harper Lee, Margaret Mitchell

QuintessentialAmerica

by david rutter

Illustration by Frank Kasy/FrankKasy.com The Mystery of Miss Nelle

Her pal’s name was Truman Streckfus t was a bleak little town that had existed in the heart of the Creek Indian Na- Persons, although you wouldn’t know tion before Andrew Jackson swiped it and nearly 20 million acres more from the tribe him by that dreadful mouthful. Iin 1814 and made all the adjoining acres part of the young Union. She was Miss Nelle, a tomboy with no Fifty years later, the Confederacy took the county from the Union in a fit of jurisdictional tolerance for tomfoolery. Eventually, pique, but then had to surrender it to Lincoln in 1865. a law school dropout, and then a Nothing much else of substance happened in Monroeville until young Mister Persons determined, deliberate spinster. and Miss Nelle came along. Together, they were BFFs who grew up Nothing much important has happened there for the last 80 years that their lives did not side-by-side in wood-framed homes in the touch profoundly in some way. rural Monroeville, Ala., of the 1930s. Persons did not stay that name for long. He eventually became , the bon Each was the other’s muse, for they were vivant wordsmith of “” and a cultural caricature in Andy Warhol’s zany circus destined to be writers. of the . His author’s soul was drenched in the bourbon juleps of old Alabama. He’s gone

48 • Quintessential Barrington | QBarrington.com now as are virtually all the literary giants of the It only seems as though she fell through the have a way of making others feel small and mean- older South. Their words endure, even if their cracks of history. More likely, she spotted the ingless. physical realities do not. crack in the floor and dove through it. “The Bird” still sells nearly a million copies a F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda of Montgomery? At the moment – the fall of 2013 – she is at war year – it’s a venerated staple of high school litera- Gone long ago. Faulkner of Oxford, Miss.? Sure. with her hometown. It’s an ugly, mean little spat ture classes - and has made Lee a millionaire. She The great ladies of Southern literature all tend because of the disparity in the two combatants. does not spend any money openly, though she to other gardens now. Lillian Hellman, Flannery Monroeville, Ala., is “the tired old town” of guards her literary legacy with a swarm of astute O’Connor, , and . Maycomb that Lee used as the stage for her liter- lawyers. Yes, all absent. ary Everest, the redoubtable “To Kill A Mocking- That brings us back to The War. As for Capote, he was never as famous as Miss bird.” Her swarm of lawyers descended on the non- Nelle Lee. Lee is a giant. Everyone knows that Lee and profit museum in town that has elevated and sus- You don’t remember her? Sure, you do. Harp- “The Bird,” as she has been known to call her tained her book as ’s spiritual cornerstone er Lee wrote “,” one of the book, are the only franchise of the little town of for decades. After expenses, the museum clears 10 most meaningful novels in American litera- 7,000. It’s a two-hour drive from the state capital about $35,000 a year, but Lee demands they stop ture. Her kin knew her only as Nelle, or Miss Nelle in Montgomery, and two hoots and a holler from all use of her book, its characters, and related im- if they had manners. the nearest interstate. It has one liquor store and ages. And then pay her. The town’s seal includes a She wrote a book, but only one. And then no 28 churches. The Tide Rolls there. cartoon image of a mockingbird. more. The old courthouse has been refurbished into a “We all love here, but we don’t al- Why, you might ask? Why would a writer ca- closer simulation of the movie courthouse where ways like her,” admits Sandy Smith, the head of the pable of one great book not be capable of more? lawyer as tried unsuc- Chamber of Commerce. “We don’t have any doubt Perhaps the next ones might lack total grace and cessfully to save Tom Robinson from the casual that the town is known for her and Capote. People greatness, but they could be wonderful in their ...... who don’t know her well think she’s a recluse. But own particular ways. Why then would a writer of she’s not really. She’s just very private. I sometimes It only seems as though she immense charm and insight not even try and al- think that she is not really the Scout character in low for the risk of failure? That’s the eternal ques- fell through the cracks of her book as everything thinks. Maybe she’s Boo tion at the heart of the Nelle Harper Lee mystery. history. More likely, she spot- R a d l e y.” If you want the answer, you’ll have to ask her ted the crack in the floor and Lee prefers straight-cropped blonde bangs yourself, if you have the courage. She hasn’t gone dove through it. and long-tailed T-shirts as she shops at Walmart, anywhere. She lives. She’s still in Monroeville. But ...... and her minister and only known friend, the Rev. be careful if you approach her. She remains an Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, drives her to cat-fishing 87-year-old tomboy with even time or toler- death often visited upon Southern blacks in the jaunts in the nearby farm called Swampy Acres. ance for tomfoolery. 1930s. She paid to build Butts’ church. Even 50 years after the Pulitzer-winning book She dines early at David’s Catfish House. She Strained relationships and the Academy Award honored movie that fol- likes the fish and hushpuppies and a glass of tea. The news that Harper Lee is alive is surprising to lowed, it seems superfluous to explain “Mock- She has been known to play golf at the country anyone who has not followed her life. We some- ingbird” as if anyone does not know it, or needs club alone. No one approaches. No one speaks to how think that great writers are like their great an explanation of its basics. Does anyone need to her. books. They remain close at hand in the library be reminded that Melville’s great white whale is a In Monroeville, “The Bird” exerts the gravita- until we reach out to seek their wisdom. But they metaphor for doomed obsession? tional pull of a black hole. No one has any wish to are there and available as all celebrities must be for The War of Monroeville seems so needless, escape from the collapsing star even if they knew our various uses. We demand their lives. as if the armed camps don’t know what the pre- how. Locals stage the book as a play every summer For those who slam the door sharply on the ferred plotline should be. It should be: A charm- on the steps of the courthouse. outside light, we think they must be dead, or else ing Southern author of advanced years and deep But the folks in Monroeville do wish Miss we would see them regularly on television or cultural charm serves as the intellectual hostess of Nelle were a nicer person. Just a tad sweeter would through their newer writings. Everyone famous her even-more charming Southern town where she be nice. lives their famous lives on the stage of fame. It’s grew up. That’s the way the narrative is supposed As for those few who know her best, they are the business of all celebrities to be at our com- to unfurl but, naturally, it doesn’t. the least likely to cast light on her existence or its mand, as our attentions seem to be at theirs. Harper Lee is not charming. Even at her least motives. They guard the mystery. But, of course, that was never Harper Lee’s antagonistic, town natives have regarded her as a If you knock on the front door of her dour way. She was never at anyone’s command, though flinty curmudgeon with no patience for anything little ranch house near downtown, she might an- plenty have tried. Maybe she never cared about but her own personal interests which she chooses swer the door and then slam it in your face. She’s the world at all. Or maybe she cared too much. not to share with anyone. Flinty curmudgeons done that. Or you might be met by her sister and

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housemate, Alice. She’s 104 and the oldest practic- of the book. She will not speak of why it exists have and we want it as fast as you can turn it out. ing attorney in Alabama. She talks. in solitary confinement. She might, on very rare I read an interview with Frank Sinatra in which No one else in Alabama talks much to Harper unguarded moments of charm, exchange polite he said about Judy Garland, ‘Every time she sings, Lee, though she occasionally travels to New York pleasantries. she dies a little.’ That’s how much she gave. That’s on Mockingbird legacy business. She’s owned an Biographers have been left mostly to specu- true for writers, too, who hope to create some- apartment at East 82nd Street since 1967. She late about her motives and interview those close thing lasting: they die a little getting it right. And goes only by train and never flies, though she once enough to her to have an opinion about her odd- then the book comes out and there’s a dinner and worked in as a ticket agent for ness, which has been sharpened because her sight maybe they give you a prize. And then comes the Eastern Airlines. It was the only job she ever held. and hearing are failing. But as for deeper insight, inevitable and very American question: What’s Twenty thousand tourists slide into Monro- she is a jigsaw puzzle to which many of the key next? But the next thing can be so hard because eville every year, often hoping for one peek of her. pieces are long missing and forever gone. now you know what it demands.” Some even run to her door at night, knock, and Smith, the chamber maven, believes there are flee as if Boo Radley lived there. more books and that Lee has hidden them until After the book and movie strode across the she dies. That would be like Harper Lee, she says. David Rutter is a frequent world stage, she wrote a few magazine articles and Oddly enough, the most plausible explanation contributer to Quintessential has made tense, quiet visits to award ceremonies for Lee’s insistent hide-and-seek from the world Barrington. to be honored. She wrote an essay for Oprah Win- is a fictional speech by actress (as frey’s magazine chastising modern shallowness. In Harper Lee) in the film I“ nfamous.” response to a TV chat that suggested Lee was a The cinematic Lee laments the painfulness of Quintessential America is a recurring series withdrawn, hostile loner because she was a lesbi- “the process,” its raptures and anguish. of stories reflecting American values and an, she fired a one-sentence response. I“ am not a “America is not a place where the small gesture community achievement. Some will be big stories. lesbian,” Lee wrote. End of that discussion. goes noticed,” the speech goes. “We’re not a coun- Some will be small. They’ll all be about Americans doing what we do best — On the rare occasions of any known conversa- try like France, where charm, something light or sharing, helping, living. tion, she has one absolute rule. She will not speak effervescent, can survive. We want everything you

50 • Quintessential Barrington | QBarrington.com