In the three-plus decades since its release,
To Kill a Mockingbird remains one of the most studied novels in modern American literature, in large part because its themes and characters have a timeless appeal. According to Dorothy Jewell Altman in the
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Lee's place in American letters is assured because this "regional novel with a universal message ... combines popular appeal with literary excellence."
According to Altman, Lee spent several years writing her novel. She did not, however, begin her writing career with To Kill a Mockingbird in mind. In the early 1950s, Lee worked as an airline reservations clerk in New York City, writing essays and short stories in her off hours. Encouraged by her literary agent to expand one of her stories into a novel, Lee quit her airline job. With the financial support of some friends, she spent several years revising her manuscript before submitting it to Lippincott in 1957. When editors criticized Lee's initial plot structure as being too disjointed and fragmentary, the author made some revisions, making her final--and accepted--submission in early 1960.
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