Harper Lee
Appearances
Criminal
The Reverend
In small-town life and in rural life, one knows one's neighbor's. Life is slower there. We simply entertain each other by talking. It's quite a thing if you've never gone or if you've never known a southern small town.
Criminal
The Reverend
The people there are not particularly worldly-wise in any way. But they tell you a story every time you see one. We are oral types. We talk.
Criminal
The Reverend
I'm a slow worker. I'm, I think, a steady worker. You know, so many writers don't like to write. I think that's that you complain. They hate to write. They must. They do it under the compulsion that makes any artist what he is. But they really don't enjoy sitting down and trying to turn a thought into a reasonable sentence. But I do, I like to write.
Criminal
The Reverend
And sometimes I'm afraid that I like it too much because when I get into work, I don't want to leave it.
Criminal
The Reverend
Well, my objectives are very limited. I simply want to do the best I can with the talent that God gave me, I suppose. I would... like to be the chronicler of something that I think is going down the drain very swiftly, and that is small-town, middle-class, southern life. In other words, all I want to be is a Jane Austen of South Alabama.