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Monday, August 10, 2015

Bookstore offers refunds on Harper Lee "new novel"

From GalleyCat @ mediabistro.com

Bookstore Offers Refunds on ‘Go Set a Watchman’


By Dianna Dilworth 2 Comments
gosetawatchman

Brilliant Books, an independent bookstore in Traverse City, Michigan, is offering free refunds to customers that purchased Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee.

The store is calling the book “a first draft” and has criticized the publication of the work as a new novel. 

“We suggest you view this work as an academic insight rather than as a nice summer novel,” the bookstore’s website reads. “This situation is comparable to James Joyce’s stunning work ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’, and his original draft ‘Stephen Hero‘. ‘Hero’ was initially rejected, and Joyce reworked it into the classic ‘Portrait’. ‘Hero’ was eventually released as an academic piece for scholars and fans—not as a new ‘Joyce novel’. We would have been delighted to see “Go Set A Watchman” receive a similar fate.”

“It is disappointing and frankly shameful to see our noble industry parade and celebrate this as ‘Harper Lee’s New Novel’,” the site continues. “This is pure exploitation of both literary fans and a beloved American classic (which we hope has not been irrevocably tainted.)”

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