Depicting Real People in Fiction: Legal Controversy over The Help

Coincidentally, after I wrote about The Help yesterday, I discovered that NPR and others were talking about the book as well. Ablene Cooper, who works for the author, Kathryn Stockett's brother's family is suing her for representing her likeness in one of the books main characters, Aibileen. Their names are almost identical and they share some distinctive characteristics. Cooper believes that she was misrepresented and portrayed in a negative light, and is seeking compensation. Stockett, however, maintains that her book is a work of fiction. She stated that she did not know Cooper well, and that although she drew certain elements from real life into her books, the characters are not representative of any real-life person.

The NPR show, Tell Me More, conducted an interview with several authors about the issue. The participants in the conversation brought a breadth of experience and perspectives to the debate. Personally, I immediately felt a sense of solidarity with Stockett when I first read about the controversy, probably because I loved the book so much. One of the authors interviewed expressed similar sentiments. Another, however, already had problems with the book (although she agreed it was a great work of literature) and felt that Stockett was clearly in the wrong with regards to the lawsuit. I encourage you to listen to the interview or to read over the transcript as it is an enlightening presentation of different opinion.

And as it turns out, opinion on the law suit issue, the author, and the book itself are largely divided along racial lines. Many black readers do not care for the book, and some seem to be troubled by a white woman's attempt to tell a story from the perspectives of black domestics in the 1960s South. I understand that position, but am almost ashamed to admit that it had not occurred to me until it was pointed out. Everyone I talked to loved the book. But then again, I never sought or found the opinion of a black reader.

I continued to want to defend Stockett until I heard that Cooper specifically requested that she not be depicted in the book. I still do not believe that Stockett intentionally meant to portray Cooper directly in the book, but it seems apparent that Cooper was among those whom Stockett drew on for her character. The similarity in the names seems particularly blatant. But of course, none of us knows what was inside Stockett's head at the time of writing.

What do you think? Have you heard about this recent controversy regarding The Help? Does it change your mind on the book if you have already read it? Or change your decision to pick it up and read it for the first time? What is appropriate when authors draw from real life to create their own literary worlds? What to they owe those that inspire their characters?

I have not sorted out my own feelings on the subject, but I plan to continue reading about the issue. I will share my findings with you all here. In the meantime, I would love to know what you think.

All the King's Men

I have a catalog of "favorite books", neatly listed on my facebook profile. I'm working one writing a review of all of them here on the blog. There are so many it's hard to pick just one, but if I'm asked for a single favorite, I always respond with All the King's Men. This Robert Penn Warren classic has it all. Romance, history, politics, scandal, intrigue. The characters are so compelling and the writing is superb. I first read it in AP English, with a teacher who adored the book. She instilled that love in us as well. We would spend whole class periods analyzing a single page of Warren's writing. None of the movie version's I've seen do it justice. It is a truly powerful story.

What is the story about, you ask? For those of you who haven't read it, All the King's Men is narrated by Jack Burden, a young man who becomes political aide to Willie Stark, an up and coming Louisiana politician. Known as "The Boss", Stark becomes the governor of the state, with aspirations of becoming a Senator. Corruption and scandal ensue. But the book also takes you back, and shares glimpses of Jack's past, with his friends Anne and Adam Stanton, and his mother's long line of husbands. We're also taken on a tour of Stark's past, learning how he went from a country boy to a successful and powerful politician. There are twists and shocking revelations throughout. The story is gripping and full of the political quandaries I love. But simple pieces of beautiful writing that stick with me the most, and that keep All the King's Men at the top of my all time favorites.

Whenever I am driving alone at night on a highway, I think of this passage, when Jack is traveling from his family home in Burden's Landing back to Baton Rouge in the middle of the night (because of an urgent call from "The Boss".)

"There is nothing more alone that being in a car at night in the rain. I was in the car. And I was glad of it. Between one point on the map and another point on the map, there was the being alone in the car in the rain. They say you are not you except in terms of relation to other people. If there weren't any other people, there wouldn't be any you, because what you do, which is what you are, only has meaning in relation to other people. That is a very comforting thought when you are in the car in the rain at night alone, for then you aren't you, and not being you or anything, you can really lie back and get some rest. It is a vacation from being you. There is only the flow of the motor under your foot spinning that frail thread of sound out of its metal gut like a spider, that filament, that nexus, which isn't really there, between the you which you have just left in one place and the you which you will be when you get to the other place.

You ought to invite those two you's to the same party, some time. Or you might have a family reunion for all the you's with barbecue under the trees. It would be amusing to know what they would say to each other.

Meanwhile, there isn't any one of them, and I am in the car in the rain at night."

It's that lovely? Driving alone is kind of like a respite, if we let it be. If we turn off the radio and put down our cellphones, driving alone is a kind of disconnectedness that it's hard to find elsewhere. And I love the idea of inviting all the different variations of myself from different parts of my life to meet each other. Maybe I will invite them all to tea.

Have you read All the King's Men? Have you seen the movie versions? Do you still love any of the books you read in school?

If pressed, what is your ONE top favorite book of all time?

Image from amazon.com

Reading is Fundamental Funding

My beloved sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, supports Reading is Fundamental as our national philanthropy. I've blogged about it before, but I cannot say enough about this wonderful organization. Their mission is to bring books into the hands and homes of children who need them most. Many of the books I've read about literacy stress how important it is for young readers to have books in their home and books to call their own. RIF fills that need for children across the country.

RIF's funding has been completely eliminated in President Obama's next proposed budget. This will be catastrophic for RIF programs across the country. What can we do to help? RIF's website provides a simple and easy way to contact your congressional representative about this vital issue.

Budget issues are always difficult, I realize, and I don't mean this to be an overly-political blog. So if you believe these cuts are justified, I respect that. But I ask you to go to RIF's website and learn about the issue. Find other ways you can help. You can volunteer to read to kids, collect books, or donate money directly. And SPREAD THE WORD! There's a button (albeit truncated) on the left column of my blog where you can enter your zip code and be directed to a web page that allows you to contact your representative. You can easily paste that same button on your webpage if you so desire. Tweet or blog about RIF's work.

Reading is good for kids and kids need books to read. RIF delivers those books to kids. Can you help them?

Sammy's Hill and House

I am in the middle of reading the recent Emily Post biography (details to come!), but it's really really long, so in the meantime, I thought I'd write about some books I've enjoyed in the past, before I had a place to write about them. I thought I'd start by writing about all the books I've listed as my favorites on Facebook. I've arbitrarily decided to start with these two.

I absolutely adore Kristin Gore's two novels: Sammy's Hill and Sammy's House. I don't remember how I first heard about Al Gore's daughter's first book, but I do remember devouring it in a weekend my senior year of college. I'm not going to say it's highly sophisticated literature, but it's not junk either. It might be classified by some as "chick-lit", but it's smart, hilarious, and full of political goodies!! What else would you expect from a former Vice President's daughter who previously wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, Futurama, and Saturday Night Live?

Sammy's Hill came first, and is the delightful tale of Sammy Joyce, a Capitol Hill staffer and health care advisor to a young U.S. Senator. The book has it all-romance, comedy, political scandal, and extremely realistic and compelling characters. I love Sammy Joyce. She's a quirky hypochondriac with a fondness for telemarketers and commemorating obscure historical anniversaries. Like myself, Sammy suffers from bouts of anxiety and often lets worrying thoughts send her into a tailspin about what disaster might happen. But she even takes it a step further and practices for the aftermath of such disasters (it's quite possibly one of the funniest sections of the book). But aside from her quirks, Sammy is smart, dedicated, and talented.

Sammy's House is the sequel, and I won't go into as much detail so as to not ruin the first book, but it is equally as delightful. As you might surmise from the title, Sammy has moved from the Hill to another branch of government. I honestly can't say which I prefer-both are wonderful.

I happen to love politics, so these books especially appealed to me, but I think they could be enjoyed by someone with less interest in the goings-on in Washington. I highly recommend both of Gore's novels for a light, but smart and entertaining read.

All images from amazon.com.

A Treasury of Great American Scandals

Here's another book I finished before the holidays.

I found A Treasury of Great American Scandals by Michael Farquhar at Half-Price Books over the summer, but didn't pick it up again until December. At the time, I was in the mood to read about American History, but wanted something fun and exciting to read as well. This book was the perfect choice.

The book is divided into chapters based on the subject matter of the scandal (family affairs, congressional feuds, etc). There's even an entire chapter devoted to duels! Farquhar gives the details some of the well-known scandals in our nation's history, but also recounts more obscure stories about beloved Presidents and forgotten politicians.

The scandals ranged from the Revolutionary period all the way to the 1970's. Carter is the latest story I can remember (apparently, his brother was quite a character), but there may have been a few mentions of administrations after him. It was sort of refreshing to read about the scandalous lives of politicians hundreds of years ago. Things haven't changed all that much.

In the back, he also provides a detailed timeline of American history, and a roster of American presidents with all of their basic information, and a few nuggets of useless, but interested trivia about each man that held the office.

If you are at all interested in American history, I think you'd enjoy Great American Scandals. And if you find history boring, but wish you knew more about it, this might be your solution!

Farquhar also wrote a version about royals, so I might have to find that one as well. You know how scandalous they can be!

recovery.gov

I seem to be having a political/historical theme lately, but I've been finding some really good sites and posts that I want to share.  This website is now up since the President signed the recovery package.  I'll be the first to admit that I do not know as much as I should about the economy or the recent legislation, but I will be visiting this site often (as well as doing other things) to begin to learn more about it.  I think recovery.gov was a good idea, and it will be interesting to see how it develops over the next few months. Since I'm still in school, I'm definitely somewhat sheltered from the economic situation, but as I begin looking for jobs this spring, I know that will change.  I'm trying not to focus on that too much right now though, because I certainly don't need to go looking for things to add to my list of worries.  

Random Presidential Facts

This post, from one of my new favorite blogs, has 10 fun (weird) facts about US Presidents.  If you are relatively normal and are not as entertained by the rankings from my previous post as I am, this will hopefully do a better job.  

Presidential Leadership Survey

This website from c-span is really interesting.  I heard about this poll on NPR today, and was really interested by some of the rankings.  Finding Lincoln and Washington at the top was no surprise, but some of them were surprising.   I guess I should have guessed it since his face is etched on the side of a cliff in South Dakota, but I never realized how admired TR was.  Clearly, I need to brush up on some of my history.  There are some periods and some topics that I know quite well, but others that are rather unknown to me.  Maybe I'll have to watch the History Channel more often.  

It is also cool to see how the rankings changed in the last 8 years.  Some changed rather significantly.   It makes sense that people began to trust Clinton more since more time has passed since his administration.  It will be interesting to see if some of Bush's numbers improve over the next few decades.   I have a feeling I will be playing with this site for a few days...