To kill a mockingbird is a sin . . .
today is the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee being awarded the Pulitzer for her great novel. I am therefore reposting a diary from last year that addressed the book, in part as a result of a column by Kathleen Parker
To kill a mockingbird is a sin, Finch told his children, because it brings no harm to others. "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us," a neighbor further explained.Likewise, trying to kill a great book because a 50-year-old literary character doesn't measure up to modern critics' idea of heroism is a sin. All Harper Lee ever did, after all, was sing her heart out for us.
So ends a column by Kathleen Parker with the title Revisionist fire at author Harper Lee should be dampened. It is written at least in part as a response to Malcolm Gladwell's criticism of the book, of Atticus Finch as insufficiently outraged or moved to action. Parker sees the point of literature as different. I find myself agreeing with Parker, with her muse in matters like this, Walker Percy. I want to explore the idea of how art moves us.
22 days left
in this my 65th year. As I did approaching 60, I am taking the time to stop and reflect - on my life to date, on where I may be headed, on the world around me, on my role therein. This is a personal meditation, but much of what appears on this site has that personal quality. So read or not, I don't mind.
Approaching 50 and approaching 60 I felt the momentum of the forthcoming birthdays. Half a century is a significant achievement in anything, and at 60 I became eligible for a variety of discounts, including being able to cut my weekly grocery bill by 5%. No, I am not a member of AARP, although literature from them is in the bill of offers of various Medicare plans that I have yet to find the time to wade through. And yes, I am already