Jerry Daniels

Detailed by Trade. Comprehensive by Nature.

Why Harper Lee (To Kill a Mocking Bird) remained silent all these years

Media_httpitelegraphc_eaejc
via telegraph.co.uk

From the article:

Lee has succeeded in protecting herself over the last half-century, and living a life which is of her choosing. In a rare statement recently, a letter to Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, she suggested how out-of-touch with modern life she has become: “In an abundant society where people have laptops, cellphones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books.” That detachment is, clearly, necessary to her. It is the paradox of the novel that it could not have been written by someone in love with literary fame; that the fame it achieved and deserved killed off any prospect of a succeeding masterpiece.

I can't wait to hear directly from Ms. Lee. Her one novel is one of my favorites along with the movie (starring Gregory Peck) by the same name.

Love this title!

"Beat the Reaper" was a fictional game played on a Firesign Theater comedy album. The bon vivant game show host would inject a contestant with a deadly disease, and said contestant would have 10 seconds to avoid certain death by guessing the malady from which he was then dying. In other words, he had 10 seconds to beat the (grim) reaper*.

Photo

*Def. from Wikipedia...

Grim Reaper: A Western depiction of Death as a skeleton carrying a scythe

Death as a sentient entity is a concept that has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, death is often given the name the "Grim Reaper" and from the 15th century onwards came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood.

In some cases, the Grim Reaper is able to actually cause the victim's death, leading to tales that he can be bribed, tricked, or outwitted in order to retain one's life. Other beliefs hold that the Spectre of Death is only a psychopomp, serving only to sever the last tie from the soul to the body and guide the deceased to the next world and having no control over the fact of their death.

In many languages Death is personified in male form (English including), while in others it is perceived as a female character (for instance, in Slavic languages, e.g. in Polish).

In this vein, I might also recommend the most excellent book The Book Thief which is a story told from by the grim reaper of a child's life during World War II in Nazi Germany.