Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers around New England:
The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester (Mass.), Feb. 6:
The world learned Feb. 3 that Harper Lee, author of the classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” will have a second novel published this July. After years of resisting pleas for another book, the 88-year-old Lee recently agreed to the publication of “Go Set a Watchman,” a kind of companion to her earlier, famous story of racial injustice, which was published in 1960 and has sold more than 40 million copies around the world, in some 40 languages.
It may not be quite right to call this second novel a landmark in the history of American letters. After all, only a handful of folks have read it, and it’s best to reserve judgment in such matters. Still, the publisher, Harper, plans to print 2 million copies, in the expectation that anything Lee writes will find a wide audience.
This much we’re sure of: Lee is making the right decision, and should ignore those voices urging her against publication, out of fear that she might somehow tarnish her reputation.
The fact is that Harper Lee, like a handful of others, wrote the Great American Novel, and whether “Go Set a Watchman” duplicates that success or falls short, nothing can subtract from the power and eloquence of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” And surveying the great sea of mediocre books that consume paper and ink each year, we’re willing to bet that Lee’s second book will rise above most. We can’t wait to read it.
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