Harper Lee said some words

You’d think, from the hype surrounding it, that reclusive author Harper Lee had given a full-blown speech at the ceremony she attended this week to honor fellow Alabamians. But what she said amounted to very little. As recorded by various news services, she uttered 11 words:

"Well, it’s better to be silent than to be a fool."

There are at least half a dozen stories on the Web, all of them very thin. It is nice to see a photograph (left) from the event, showing us what Lee looks like today--the boyish, brown hair of 1960s publicity photos is all white now; her face, though, still has the same amused expression and smile of her youth. Here’s Scout in her twilight years.

Lee’s off-the-cuff remark didn’t really break her silence, as several news reports declare. It was just a reminder that her refusal to discuss herself and "To Kill a Mockingbird" isn’t going to end any time soon.

"She’s certainly not at a loss for words. That’s not why she’s been silent all this time," writer Charles J. Shields tells Jacket Copy. "She’s such a live wire. Friends of hers will tell you that. When she wants to turn it on, she’s wonderful."

Shields tried to get Lee’s participation in his 2006 book, "Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee" (Henry Holt). He never received an answer from her to his book proposal. He suggests that the stunning success of her novel has enabled Lee to insulate herself from the world. (And don’t forget the 1962 movie.) "She enjoys a life of no constraints, no demands, and she has the income to do it," he says. "Her book sells about 100,000 copies a year without any sort of public appearances necessary. She doesn’t have to explain herself. She’s beholden to no one."

Nick Owchar

Photo credit: AP