Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On Scout Atticus Boo 20240622

Facebook page, facebook. Com booktv. This is booktv on cspan2 television for serious readers. Heres our prime time lineup. In anticipation of next weeks release of harper lees second book, so get a watchman, booktv presents several programs about the pulitzer prizewinning authors life and writing career. Next Mary Mcdonagh murphy looks at the impact of harper lees to kill a mockingbird. Then at 7 30, maria mills reports on the 18 months she lived next door to harper lee in monroeville, alabama. And at 9 p. M. Eastern on after words, charles shields author of mockingbird a portrait of harper lee, discusses the events leading up to the publication of her new novel go set a watchman. That all happens next on cspan2s booktv. And now heres Mary Mcdonagh murphy, author of Scout Atticus and boo. Good morning everyone. And welcome to the auditorium speaker series. My name is m. Claire knowles and i serve as a member of the American Library Association Executive board. But i also have a day job and i serve as the assistant dean for Student Services at the graduate school of library and Information Science at Simmons College in boston. I would like to take this opportunity to thank harpercollins for their generous sponsorship of nancy is pearl and Marie Mcdonagh murphys talk today. Before we begin i would like to remind everyone that this evening is the opening general session featuring toni morrison. It starts at 5 30. S the scholarship bash will also take place this evening with buses departing from the Convention Center immediately following the opening general session. If you still need to purchase tickets, you can do so at the bash booth or the registration desk. I would also like to remind everyone to attend the rally on tuesday for Library Advocacy day. En with buses departing from the Convention Center immediately following the closing session. Me lastly dont forget to check out the exhibits and all they have to offer. But first things first. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of to kill a mockingbird, an american classic, nancy pearl will interview Mary Mcdonagh murphy Emmy Awardwinning filmmaker and author of the upcoming book scout, atticus ankd boo. A celebration of 50 years to kill a mockingbird. Nancy pearl is the author of book crush for kids and teens, recommended reading for every mood, moment and interest. And book lust recommended reading for every mood, moment and reason. And more book lust, 1,000 new reading recommendations for every mood moment and reason. All published by sasquatch books. Ms. Pearl will be signing her books tomorrow at 2 p. M. At Publishers Group west, number a 2740. In 2004 ms. Pearl was awarded the women eat National Book association womens National Book Association Award given to a living American Woman who has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation. Li in 1998 Library Journal named her fiction reviewer of the year. Ms. Mcdonagh murphy will be signing in the harpercollins booth51 2513 at 10 a. M. To 11 a. M. Following todays1 program. Now, please extend a warm welcome for nancy pearl and Mary Mcdonagh murphy. [applause] lause] [applause] it is so nice of you to come out this early to see and here from mary about her knew book. Im just going to jump right in with the questions. Mary how did you come to do this book . One of our alltime favorite books. I was talking to a young woman last night from vanguard press. I knew we were doing this this morning. Amanda do you remember when you 1st read to kill a mockingbird . Mr. Elliott, 7th grade. Thats one of the things i think is so true. Oprah winfrey told me that she really calls this our national novel. It is just one of those novels. You can ask anyone to aa person and they it just has that effect. And so what how did you read it . I almost escaped high School Without reading to kill a mockingbird because it had month not been assigned. H and my mother and sister who know quite a lot about books were talking to me one more than morning, o and somebody mentionedim gem, my sister did, and i said well, thats such a funny name for a girl. And they just crawled across the table saying we cannot believe that you have not read this book. So i read it just as i was leaving high school, and i was completely in the tank for scout. Utterly. El right. Utterly. Did you find as you went on in your life and did other things that that book have become in some ways more important than other books . What happens to me really and the whole reason i started his because of an adult rereading that made a far greater impression that it had when i read it as a young girl. I was more blown away with a novel is a 34 euro person that i have been as an adolescent. A lot of it had to do with the writing itself. Itself. My ready for the 2nd time as a grownup i was like, did i really read this . Theyre was so much that escape me. That is when i began to go exploring and see what i could find out because it was clear that it had an enormous impact both culturally and socially. Should we see the clip . Sure. Who are the quick over theyre. When i was a kid i collected insurrectionary outspoken not girly girls and books. And of green gables and joe march and little women and scout. Irresistible, just irresistible. I thought i was scout. I felt so attached to her. Zero well. What do you think you are doing. A little smarta little smartass. Speaks 1st with her fists. Back of three or four steps. An extension of a hug then character, and american character poking at the boundaries of good taste and what is proper. She does not have a mother. Her childhood is very lonely and it is only her interest in other people that makes it a full childhood. She is an explorer and truly struggles in the way we struggle to figure out how to be in the world. World. Here is scout who believes in things, funny, curious passionate, and a tomboy. I think scout has done more than any other character and literature. Come on in here. Have your breakfast. Alexander was phenomenal. I couldi could not possibly hope to be a lady if i were bridges. Involve playing with small stoves, tea sets, and the pro mac was she gave me when i was born. Furthermore, i should be a ray of sunshine. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine advance. A scamp and hysterically funny and no less funny as an adult looking back although in a slightly more fermented and seasoned way. She isshe is just great company. One of the reasons i became so obsessed is because everything that she did convince me that she was just a grownup scout who had not gone over to the dark side. A tired old town eve. A grownup scout is the narrator of to kill a mockingbird. Simultaneously an adult looking back and a child experiencing life in a small town. Difficult feat. Ask any writer. Very, very tough because you have to both be a kid on the street and aware of mad dogs and the spooky houses and have this beautiful vision of how Justice Works and all the creaking mechanisms of the courthouse. Many writers courthouse. Many writers of credit. They do it all the time. Through the childs eyes but with an adult understanding. That is part of why this is a great book and is part of why harper lee is a Great American writer. This is the 50th [applause] and this is the 50th anniversary of the publication of tequila mockingbird. At what time did you realize you would do it . Theyre were two things. I always had an interest in pursuing this is a story. Read the book for a 3rd time. I began to see the knew value. The phenomenon of the book the way the book happened and the impact it had was really quite astonishing. That is i started thinking about the documentary. The documentary came together very close to here and happened because i came to book expo held here about three or four years ago and knew i wanted writers to talk to me about the book and call the head. So sure. Said sure. We can arrange it. I had that. I found a local soundman, spent a lot of money to rent a room across the street knowing i could make it easy for become. In addition to alan was magnificent and lee smith who is just wonderful i trolled the convention where while in and Mark Childress who grew up two doors down and read the book on the porch and is the reason he became a writer. I buttonholed david and. By days end i had five fantastic interviews. Everyone read beautifully, and i knew i had a movie. That was one great day in filmmaking. Ifilmmaking. I take it that does not happen all that frequently . That is what i knew i could keep going. In a letter i read she said people could call her nelly and that was pretty much unacceptable to her opinion was she nervous about publishing this book nervous because of the races issues that were brought up or the picture of without speaking to her directly, it is hard for me to say. I know that her expectations for the book were very low and certainly within her family, aall thought isnt it great now that did this and everybody thought 4,000 copies. But no one expected this kind of popularity and fame. I think that shes called the book a plea for understanding. Which i think is different from a pointed statement about race, and the book, one of the great of the book is that it has a very significant message without preaching for one second. Uhuh had you. Because i dont think it is popularity that would have endured or been there in the first place if it was the kind of book that hit you over the head with this is what you must do to make the world a better place potential castor. Right take it or i think to kill a mockingbird and run of the reasons if you cant get in the front row with scout, you can get him with atticus or miss dobo loneliness race, childhood theres parenting. How you form judgment. And the other thing about this book that is not disgusted is how suspenseful it is. And what grows up around boo is you just cant stop breathing. And if you think about hey boo, the words hay boo it is one of the greatest reveals ever in a book. So yeah. We might want to look at boo. Sounds good. [laughter] inside the house lived a level of phantom. People said he existed people said he win the out at night when the moon was down and peeped in windows. When it was frozen, it was because he had breathed the dawn. And he felt a small crime committed to make him for his works. I mean every kid has had that house in the neighborhood that your friends would dare you to knock at on halloween. Just the whole business of boo and his house by the way is Just Brilliant stuff. Really brilliant stuff. Copy and emulated by prices everywhere. If you look at the way boo bradley keeps coming back and coming back and coming back, you know, youre all sneaking around. Everybody starts sneaking around. It is an incredibly dramatic book. Wonderful. I just found it is a drama that kept going and going, and going, and youre suspecting something which tell you something about yourself. The suspense was unusual and a powerful drama that really did hook you which obviously, i try to do with my books. From the chicken pecan tree shook but the nuts lay untouched by the children and peeked hands. Baseball hit him to the yard with a lost ball, and no questions asked. The misery of that house began many years before jim when i were born. I came over the years to a realization that i bet is true of harper lee as well. You know you start with who and what you know. You said like you take a survey of the lay of the land that formed you and shaped you. And when you begin to lie about it you you tell one lie that turns into a different lie, and after a while those sort of lift off and become their own people rather than the the people you originally thought of. And when you weave an entire network of lies, what youre really doing if youre aiming to write what youre really doing is by telling lies, youre trying to arrive at a deeper truth. One of the things about lets clap [applause] see what i mean about alexander. Hes very fabulous, and at least reading of it is just so it makes you think that thats a book that should be taught even by being read aloud. Teacher dos that and another reason that they love it. Just an earlier editor on the project when we were working and i had scripted it, when everyone reads, they look up sort of rapture after the passage and Say Something so she cut all of that out. And said oh welcome it is just slowing us down. Are you kidding . This is a book when you are taking who else you wanted to interview, i mean one of the strengths of the book, i think is the wide range of people who who spoke to you and why you didnt gel nell as nobody could to speak to you. You did get her sister, her older sister her older sister alice ho is 98, so talk about that experience. That was so proud to have met miss alice to be allowed to interview her at the extent i did. I went to monroeville quite a few time website and i knew that both lee sisters were with readers, so i frequently just sent books that i thought would be of interest. Wrote several letters, several different ways. Through different people. And then on a my second trip to monroeville i asked somebody who knows miss alice to write a letter to her just saying was coming and if he could find it in his heart i was a good egg. I would appreciate it. So on that trip, i dropped something off at the office, and miss alice practices law at burnett bug and lee her father founded off the town square and in the Bank Building. When you walk in, theres this little bird of a woman sitting at her desk doing her property transfers working away, 98 years old. So theres, you know, theres kind of a stop at the door. And i leave a letter, and a book and i go about my business. I leave, i go to interview mary who played scout in the movie. And i emailed an associate sayings i was here if you need to reach me so i got an email from the interview saying miss alice would like to talk to you, are you still in town . So i wrote back and said im close by. [laughter] got on a plane drove back to monroeville. Had a visit with miss alice that went on for a couple of hours and said would you be willing to talk to me on camera she said she would and i found a camera crew and she didnt just talk to me, she gave me five hours and she tutored me in alabama history, and soil, and politics, and all of the anecdotes that she gave me about what their family was like. It was very it really round out i think your picture of lights in monroeville in the 30s and lee family. Do you think plain scout changed married adams life . I do. Interviewing mary is a fascinating and hilarious experience because she was a nineyearold girl in that movie when it was made. Part of it you say okay mary you are on the swing with atticus hes saying that, youre saying that. What do you remember about that scene in she says freeway was crowded and mom wanted to get home early that day. So she remembers it like a nineyearold which is a complete sense. I think it was late i think it was real play time on that set and a great time, and i think it was later in marys life that she realized just is how extraordinary that she had been involved in something extraordinary and, of course, u now she goes around and talks it it quite a lot. Imagine playing your favorite heroine so many peoples favorite. She never acted in anything before. Neither did who played jim which was why i think the way children were cast was so brilliant thirp real children. So im curious because im a librarian and love to read. What books did you send lee sisters . I recently sent lord of finance which i sent her history, the Cornelius Vanderbilt book. I knew they loved between the wars, british between the wars, and history that i sent Robert Franks photos, book i thought that would be interesting. Knob fiction though. Not to miss alice not fiction but thats a sample. Yeah, you can sort of see her sitting in that, in the Bank Building which is a Wonderful Team in your book. Miss alice is a big theme of the sisters i sent her a biography. So yeah. Okay. Well we can give you a suggestion [laughter] really good. But those are i approve of. Those are very good choices. Thank you oh, good. You like them too. Thats nice, though. Did you have time in making your background, you are a film person. Was there a time in the making of this film where you thought i just it is not beginning to come together in the way i see it . I mean, you know, if there were times that it was darkest before the dawn where i was and my husband found me once up in my, you know, office atticus saying why do i think i can make a movie about a book, whose idea was that . But i never sort of doubted that it could i could get to the finish line. I just wasnt always sure how i was going to get there. And the structures a very, very difficult structure and because youre kind of shoe horning what you can find about where the novel came from along with telling the story of the trajectory of the novel. Relationship, and that is and when you make a movie you want enough peaks and valleys so that people stay with it. So the structure was particularly difficult and i think it is successful. So yeah. Definitely think. Most definitely. So since were never going to hear from nell the answer to this question. This particular question. And since youre i think very close to the book and her it seemed from all different perspectives, why do you think that she never wrote another book . As you say it is impossible to answer that. But i can tell you what her sister said. And i have since since the book has finished ive talked on the record to friends of hers as well. But couple of gates were Christmas Money to finish l yeah. And ting i think that kind of success was very overwhelming. I think it was difficult to sit back at your desk after doing a masterpiece job your first time out, a masterpiece and i think some some lights got in the way for her father got sick. She burned her hands. Things happen. But her sister said that she wrote short short things with the idea of making putting them altogether but that never quite came together, and the one, i think so the one thing that miss alice said to me the one that she said she knows where to go but they are. I can accept that now. S, especlly when you talk to other noveliststhat you can especially come at s a find you is n can see it in their eyes anyone that goes like this isnt publishing again. They find that very frightening. But i think i can understand it one because they did the same one m book and then im gone. Heshe her excuse, excuse is the wrongstory, word she said she was writing think it her grandmothers story and that is the one story she had to tell. I think it is the critic that said everybody has one book and then they usually write seven or eight. [laughter] and everybody has one story to tell. I think that when you draw on that experience the second one has to be harder because probably it is one that you know quite well. Can you talk about her competitive relationship . He was an adorable little boy. He lived nextdoor and was raised for a period of time during those years when Harper Lee Truman was nextdoor. He was later adopted by his own gold, i mean his stepfather. So they became very close playmates and in fact he was then the editor of the paper and brought back under web where they could be seen one would dictate and one with type, so it was a very close and lovely relationship i think the fact that truman had been to new york and was writing may have had something to do with it and he is certainly better off with friends and letters and introductions and then of course the generosity to go with him, the first novel isnt even published yet and she is waiting for it to come out and goes with him to kansas to help him research the crime novel. I think she was a very generous and wonderful friend. Truman became an entirely too envious and couldnt really contain it and that was the end of a very close and great friendships. It is amazing to think about the two of them coming to this. There is a stone wall that separates the two houses but its about as big as this stage they came from in alabama. Do you think the talk about the couple that made it possible because that is such a wonderful story. We all get by but nobody has friends like michael and harper lee which came to new york and truman capote. Could you look after her and so they met michael they became lifelong friends. She spent christmas with them. They couldnt get the holiday off in alabama and this year it was 1956. They read quite a few things and they were impressed with what she could do and thought she needed a chance so they gave her enough money to write for one year it was their Christmas Gift and they had written how to kill a mockingbird and the introduced her to an agent and at the end of one year she had a manuscript and then they took several months from all of the projects to work with a very promising new author but they needed quite a lot of work. When the book changed from atticus to how to kill a mockingbird what was the motivation for that . Harper lee always wanted to tell how to kill a mockingbird and they said hold on to that until the last minute. Dont drop it on them until it is really time. Do you think that they wanted to call it advocates because in her mind this was a book about her father . I think that its entirely possible based on i dont know. I think that what i know about her father speaking to her sister and talking to her friends is that he was an incredibly accepting and progressive do the right thing. So they went their way in the 30s. This is a father who was very interested in letting his girls be who they wanted to be. The thing about atticus himself is that he is a paradigm and harper did a good job of making a man not be a good cardboard cutout. Lets watch the clip. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] comfort and integrity. That is a quintessential American Family even though its not typical or not only is he this wonderful father completely intuitive and caring but even the best shot at the county. [laughter] be handled with a rifle to atticus and we nearly fainted. He walked quickly that i thought he moved like an underwater swimmer. Tim had slowed down to a crawl. When he raised his classes he murmured please help. Its just from a reuters point of view is a perfect invocation of the moment in time. You are utterly bear standing on the porch watching him and feeling the childrens amazement that once again this part of her father that they dont know or understand or almost cant believe exists. Whats the matter, dont you know that your dad is the best shot . I was particularly taken. Didnt see him working his way through why he was going to take this case and he couldnt hold his head up unless he took this case. And that conversation between the two of them is sophisticated in its own way yet it is still between a father and a daughter. Im simply defending a negro and south, there are some things that you are not old enough to understand just yet. There has been some talk around town to the effect that i shouldnt do much about defending this man. If you shouldnt be defending him then you shouldnt be doing it. If i didnt, i couldnt hold up my head. I couldnt represent this county and the legislature or not to do something again. You mean they wouldnt have to mind you any more . [laughter] because i could never ask you to mind me again. Nature they get at least one case in a lifetime that affects them personally. The smalltown personal relationships come the place is all encapsulated in that and again, he wasnt he represents a generation of intelligence. We wouldnt have had the civil rights movement. They moved along to write it despite of what the neighbors thought. It was beyond him trying to do anything. It was about the new god was watching him so he was trying to get to heaven. He is everything. He is a paradigm. There are not many human beings like atticus finch. But that doesnt mean that its not worth striving to be like him. Will the defendant please rise and face the jury, what is your verdict . We find him dot he has charged. He took his coat off his chair and pulled it over his shoulder then left the courtroom but not by his usual exit. He walked quickly down the middle while towards the south exit. I followed as he made his way to the door. He didnt look up. Someone was punching me but i was reluctant to take my eyes from the people below us into the image of his lonely walk down the aisle. I looked around. They were standing all around us in the balcony, on the opposite wall the negroes were getting to their feet. They were distant. Jean louise stand up, your father is passing. [applause] by goodness, it hurts after hearing the voice of how to speak for yourself. When they were making the movie we dont have a lot of time left for the interview but when they were making the movie, were there problems . With what you discovered about that . Harper lee picked who got make the movie. She was involved. So they were partners and they seemed like the Perfect People to do it. She was asked to write a screenplay and that led to the very first screenplay and a great relationship developed. They were very Close Friends their whole life. But by all accounts, it was a wonderful experience. She pronounced herself ecstatic with what was going on. I did a talk in new york recently. A woman in the front row said i did enjoy this movie. At first she was speaking about the movie that she had been in the movie. So it was great to meet her but by all accounts, there was a Great Respect for the source Material Command robert was a great director. Do you think that the script brought something . Ive been speaking about this because we all entered the film with as much affection and love as we did but if i were asked to say what is the difference between the two, what do you think . They did a great job of reduction. They said it in one year and removed a lot of minor characters and focused more heavily on the courtroom drama. Spin it to me they are both masterpieces but the narrator of the book is far more hilarious. That is a big distinction. Of course all they are all fantastic. I miss them all. So you spend a lot of time with it. This has been part of your life i didnt work on it constantly. One question ive been asked is to tie your boat into the answer is no. It is a rewarding experience every single time. When you were making the film was there somebody that you wanted to interview . Some people said yes. John lewis is one of the people. He is the hero of mine and it certainly did a lot and we wanted to hear from him. He didnt say no but hes just a busy person. By angelo also said yes harriet at the minute they called i woke up but those were two people that i really wanted to talk to and i havent been able to interview. Do you hope that your film about the book. It was in the sense of helping people understand. I think the book provides a context for the novel, for the harper lee novel and i think it does sort of what i wanted to do after i read the book for the second or third time which is it kind of continues and expands the reading experience and it gives it a context and everywhere you go you can talk to people about to kill a mockingbird. To kill a mockingbird is one of the social networks of our time. I think it does extend your experience and informs interesting commentary. Thats what i was thinking as those that really loved the book and the people that talk about atticus, Richard Russo talked about his idea to. He defined himself as a parent was what he learned about that from atticus. Absolutely. You could read it as a parenting manual. And they didnt have the availability to her father the way that they had for atticus. It was a long game in wanting atticus to be her father. I think that it was diane but with the great history in birmingham alabama and had at one point said everybody wants a father like atticu