6.09.2006
To Mock a Biographer
From this review (registration required) of Charles J Sheilds' biography of Harper Lee -- author of To Kill a MockingBird -- I got the distinct impression that it is a book I would not want to read. From the article: "He used the Internet to take the art of the cyberclip-job to bold new heights." The review itself is fascinating though, focusing on the process of writing a biography of a person who does not want to be written on. What was Shields really to do, when "one of [his] best sources is Ms. Lee's father's caddy"? I suppose his persistence is commendable in some respects. It actually sounds suspiciously like a grad project.
