Why didn't Nelle Harper Lee publish TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD under her full name?

[raccoon]

I know lots of writers have pen names, go by their initials, etc. I just wonder whether she ever said.

[hamerfan]

1. Because

spell-check kept wanting to put an "i" in it? :spank:

[EFerrari]

2. I don't know her story but women used to do that all the time,

publish under male names.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. I once read that she dropped it because she thought it would

be mispronounced. But where I read this, I do not know. I can offer up a link where you can see a couple of short videos of and about this season's excellent stage version of Mockingbird at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. http://www.osfashland.org/plays/video/index.aspx

[PoliticAverse]

6. Apparently that's correct...

See: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/books/08masl.html

http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/mockingbird...

[Bluenorthwest]

9. If only this were Final Jeopardy!

nt

[MineralMan]

4. I was called by my middle name for many years. I had to

switch to my first name, though, when I left my home town. It was just to hard to explain to people. The military especially. Perhaps she had always been called Harper and disliked her first name. Could be lots of reasons, really.

[PoliticAverse]

5. 'she didn't want "Nelle" pronounced as "Nellie"'

See: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/books/08masl.html

http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/mockingbird04.php

[MineralMan]

7. Good enough reason, it seems to me.

[dtexdem]

8. Being called by one's middle name is a Southern thing.

Both of my parents were known by their middle names.

[MineralMan]

10. In my case, it was because I was a Junior, so I got called by my

middle name to differentiate between my father and I. When I'm in my home town, I'm still called by my middle name, since my father is still alive at 87. It took a while for my wife to get used to it when we visited my family. The USAF made short work of that nonsense. I've been called by my first name ever since I enlisted.