With the publication of Harper Lee’s much anticipated second novel Go Set a Watchman, many people have started to wonder about other authors, both modern classical and classical, that they wish could also write a new book.
Lee’s Go Set a Watchman was actually the first novel that she had attempted to write. After submitting the manuscript, she was asked to focus more on Scout Finch’s young life with her father, Atticus and brother, Jem, resulting in the book that is To Kill a Mockingbird. Finally published over 50 years later, Go Set a Watchman is set in the 1950s when a 26 year-old Scout Finch returns to her hometown to visit her ageing father. The story follows an older Scout grappling to reconcile the father she finds with her own memories and sensibilities. The arrival of this novel was highly anticipated worldwide, achieving the most number of pre-ordered books in the UK since the last Harry Potter novel.
Of course, much like Lee feared, there have been strong criticisms of the new novel. After the success of the modern classic To Kill a Mockingbird, there has been hysteria over the portrayal of Atticus. In Lee’s first novel, Finch is portrayed as a sympathetic character, one that is beyond reproach when it comes to tackling racism. Yet many have complained of the harsher portrayal of Go Set a Watchman’s Atticus, a man who once attended a Ku Klux Klan meeting.
Many authors are much loved and of course we wish they would, or could, continue to write. Here are a few classic and modern classic authors that I wish could also write a new book.
1. Arthur Ransome
Although no longer as well-known as he was in his heyday, Ransome, who wrote the Swallows and Amazons series is still one of the best children’s adventure authors I have ever read. His books have definitely achieved classic status – just check the exams sat by students attempting to gain admittance to state selective schools. Chances are Ransome’s texts will be in there as a part of the reading list.
2. Enid Blyton
Most of us will remember reading Blyton as a young child, and wondering when the days were that parents would let their children gallivant around the countryside without a care in the world. Her books truly help children and adults alike escape reality to a much simpler day and age.
3. J.D. Salinger
Best known for his debut novel The Catcher in the Rye which follows a mentally unhinged Holden Caulfield, Salinger would spend the next decade publishing a few more works, none of which held the same acclaim. Nonetheless, Salinger was certainly a literary genius. I wish that he could write a new book that would live up to the success of his brilliant debut novel.
4. Agatha Christie
As a young child, one of the programmes that I loved best was the David Suchet adaptation of Christie’s moustached, Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Christie’s novels, whether about Poirot, Miss Marple or others, never fail to entertain with inventive plots and creative machinations; we could definitely do with more of her work in the world.
