Have you heard that a sequel of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird has been unearthed and will be published later this year? There have been a number of responses to the news, with George R. R. Martin's (of Game of Thrones fame) perhaps being the best. It is stunning news as it was long believed that Ms. Lee had never written another novel, let alone one that builds on her classic.
And that is the scary part. How does an artist ever step out of the shadow of a phenomenon and continue? We have long heard of actors that never escape an iconic character. I just read the other day that John Wayne turned down the lead in Gunsmoke to avoid being typecast as a cowboy - don't know if that's true since that ship had sailed by that point. We hear of one hit wonders in music all the time. How many best new performer Grammy winner has sunk into obscurity? Look at JD Salinger. He never published a book after the huge impact of Catcher in the Rye. Just how do you overcome the over-blown expectations based on one piece, one book, one film? More locally, what about the amazing performance of Patriot Malcolm Butler? Will expectations be so high that anything Malcolm does from now on will seem so much less? Will he be able to step out of the shadow of expectation and not let that burden interfere with his mental game?
On the other side of that coin is our concerns about being disappointed by the sequel, the next song, the next book. So while many of us will be eager to read the book, others are going to be a bit hesitant to have something one loves potentially diminished. So we will keep our fingers crossed and wait eagerly for Harper Lee's next book and trust that it has been well worth the wait rather than something that was hidden away with good reason.
