Harlan Ellison vs Harper Lee
Submitted by quade on Sun, 09/12/2010 - 11:52pm
Harlan Ellison has had a career spanning decades in multiple writing disciplines with over 1,000 published works. Extraordinarily prolific. As a stunt, one morning he sat in the front window of his publishing company and solicited a random topic from the crowd passing by. He then began to type. By the end of the day, he had a finished novel.
Harper Lee, sat down at her typewriter and after two and a half years finished her first and only book; To Kill a Mockingbird. As far as anybody really knows, she never wrote a word before or since.
By the sheer volume of work Harlan Ellison has produced, he's racked up some impressive awards; Bradbury award, Bram Stoker Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award, Hugo Award, Writers Guild of America. An amazing collection of awards given by industry insiders.
With the one book Harper Lee wrote, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ellison has been more successful in monetary terms, no question, but I think Lee's work is far more socially important and will be remembered as such.
Who would you rather be?
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To Be Lee of not to be...
An interesting question and one I might answer differently on my deathbed than now while I still have a lot of life to live.
Am I living a long and Healthy life? In a completely mercenary tone, I must answer that I would rather be Harlan, though perhaps not quite so abrasive. I confess to a healthy envy of the man's output and general quality of writing and ideas. To be clear, I would not want to actually be Harlan Ellison. Just that successful.
But...
To be remembered like Harper Lee is remembered is an awesome thought. Likely To Kill a Mockingbird will be discussed long after Repent Harlequin said the Ticktock Man is relegated to the "quaint" section of the digital libraries of the future.
Am I dying this month? My answer is Harper Lee.
Jeff Michaels