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Friday, March 29, 2024

Art Talk – The Findings of a Lost Era

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A recent Tribune article titled “Remembering Glorious Unstructured Summers” by Heidi Stevens threw me into a wave of nostalgia. Memories of playing nightly games of Kick the Can, running through the bank of fog spewed from mosquito trucks and dancing under the sprinkler flooded my mind.

These thoughts led to other memories of lazy sun-filled days that were not mine but rather told to me through the memoirs of one Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, as she preferred. Through her I learned the value of tolerance and courage, curiosity and compassion.

Harper Lee brought Scout to life in her best-selling novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” First published in 1960, the book became an instant success and has never gone out of print. Receiving a Pulitzer Prize in 1962, Mockingbird was then made into an Academy Award-winning film, further establishing the lives of Scout and her father Atticus as part of American history. High school students across the country continue to embrace this modern classic and study its themes of racial injustice, tolerance, and loss of innocence.

Now, some 55 years after the release of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” an announcement was made that set the literary world on fire: “Go Set a Watchman,” Harper Lee’s manuscript originally written in the mid-50s, has been published and is scheduled for release on Tuesday, July 14.

Although it does not qualify as a true sequel, it does feature the beloved characters that gave Mockingbird its endurance. In it we see the adult Scout visiting Atticus, 20 years after that frightful walk home from the school play, grappling “with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father’s attitude toward society and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.”

For those who cannot wait to create more summer memories, here is some good news: A midnight release party sponsored by Anderson Bookshop is scheduled for Mon., July 13, at the Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove. A copy of Harper Lee’s new novel “Go Set a Watchman” is included with the purchase of a ticket.

Event date:
Monday, July 13, 2015 – 8 PM

Event address:
Tivoli Theatre
5021 Highland Avenue
Downers Grove, IL 60515

For tickets and information please call (630) 963-2665 or go to www.andersonsbookshop.com.

Editor’s Note: According to organizers of the event at Anderson’s Bookshop, after a book discussion with the audience, complete with history, the movie, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” will be shown on the big screen. The Academy Award-winning movie starring Gregory Peck is an American classic, considered one of the best movies ever. Just after midnight on July 14, Harper Lee’s book, “Go Set a Watchman” will be available for the first time.

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Debbie Venezia
Debbie Veneziahttp://www.artsdupage.org
Debbie Venezia is the Director of Arts DuPage, a DuPage Foundation initiative. Contact her at debbie@dupagefoundation.org or visit www.artsdupage.org.

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