Writings

• Lee, Harper (1960) To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: J. B. Lippincott.

• Lee, Harper (1961) "Love--In Other Words". Vogue Magazine.

• Lee, Harper (1961) "Christmas to Me". McCalls Magazine.

• Lee, Harper (1965) "When Children Discover America". McCalls Magazine.

ARTICLE

Books, as we all know, have very short shelf lives these days. Most new books remain on bookstore display tables for only a few weeks, and on the shelves for a few months at best. When Oprah Winfrey chose Wally Lamb's SHE'S COME UNDONE for her book club a while back, the publisher had to print a new edition of the book because it was absolutely unavailable. To obtain a book two years after publication is rare; for a book to be accessible forty years after it was first published is close to miraculous.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is that rare book. Since its publication in 1960 it has never been out of print. And with good reason - it is one of the finest novels written in this century, and one of the most widely celebrated and read.

And the question arises, from time to time, whatever happened to its author, Harper Lee? After she wrote the book, she dropped out of sight. She granted a few interviews in 1961 when the film was made, but since then very few people have seen her, and those who have, if asked, will politely change the subject. A few years ago, when a 35th anniversary edition of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was being prepared, a publisher asked her to write an introduction for the book. She wrote, "Please spare 'Mockingbird' an Introduction. As a reader I loathe Introductions.  To novels I associate Introductions with long-gone authors and works that are brought back into print after decades of interment...'Mockingbird'...has never been out of print and I am still alive...It still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble."

We do know that she was born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama, and that she lived next door to Truman Capote. They were childhood friends, and that friendship continued until his death in 1984. She traveled to Kansas with him to help him with his research when he was writing IN COLD BLOOD. We also know that Lee lives in New York, while her sister still lives in Monroeville.  She visits her sister frequently and is sometimes seen having lunch or shopping at the local Piggly Wiggly. But no one can (or is willing) to talk about her.

In an era when authors become instant celebrities, appearing on countless talk shows and at book readings and signings, she is an enigma. But I think we can learn a lot about her by reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I think it is more autobiographical than we realize - I suspect that she is Scout, that Atticus Finch is her father, and that her dear friend Truman Capote is Dill. That is probably all she wants us to know, and all we need to know.

Judith Handschuh

Unit 1. Chapter 1

1. Speak about the author, her life and literary career.

2. Give the Russian equivalents for the following words.

apothecary (n.): an early form of a pharmacist, apothecaries could also prescribe drugs.

assuaged (vb.): to assuage is to lessen or to calm. Therefore, if Jem's fears about being able to play football were assuaged, it means that he no longer feared that he wouldn't be able to play the sport.

collards (n.): a type of cabbage with very coarse leaves

beadle (n.): a minor city official, lower in rank than either a sheriff or a policeman, whose main duties revolve around preserving order at various civil functions such as trials and town hall meetings.

brethren (n.): in this case, members of a particular church or sect.

dictum (n.): in this case, a formal statement of principle.

domiciled (vb.): A domicile is a house or a place where a person lives. If you are domiciled somewhere, that is where you live. The Finch family lived in the northern part of the county.

eaves (n.): the lower edges of a roof which usually project beyond the side of a building

foray (n.): When you make a foray, you go somewhere or do something that is unusual or not normal for you. It was certainly not Jem's usual behavior to go near the Radley house; thus, doing so was a foray for him.

human chattels (n.): slaves

impudent (adj.): To be impudent is to be shamelessly bold, as if you don't care what anyone thinks about you. Since the Haverfords did something illegal in front of witnesses, Lee rightfully describes them as impudent.

Methodists (n): members of a branch of a Protestant Christian denomination.

picket (n): a pointed or sharpened pole or stake.

piety (n): devotion to religious duties and practices

predilection (n.): a predilection is a preference, or a preferred way of doing something. Thus, the Radley's preferred way of spending a Sunday afternoon was to keep the doors closed and not receive visitors

ramrod (adj.): rigid, severe, straight

repertoire was vapid: (n. + adj.): a repertoire is all the special skills a person has; vapid, in this case, means boring or uninteresting. So, when Scout says that their repertoire was vapid, she means that the games they had invented to pass the time had become old and had lost their interest.

scold (n.): A scold is a person who scolds; that is, someone who often finds fault with people or things (and usually lets you know about it under no uncertain terms)

spittoon (n.): a jarlike container to spit into; usually used to spit tobacco juice into.

strictures (n.): conditions or rules

taciturn (adj.): almost always silent. Apparently, Aunt Alexandra's husband was a very quiet man.

unsullied (adj.): something that is unsullied has been basically untouched or unused. The fact that Atticus's edition of the Code of Alabama is unsullied would, in this case, indicate that he seldom consults this book.

Words and word combinations for intensive study.

to be admitted to the bar (v.+ n.) malevolent phantom(adj. + n.)

assault and battery (n. +n.) cuss (v.)

worship (v.) imprudent (adj.)

high-strung(adj.) amble(v.)

Assignments

I. Translate the sentences in which the words and word combinations for intensive study are used. Reproduce them in the situations from the book.

II. Speak about the Finches family and describe the town they lived in.

III. Translate the paragraph: “Maycomb was an old town…….it had nothing to fear but fear itself”. Comment on it.

IV. Give a gist of the chapter.