Harper Lee seems like she was from another era, like Herman Melville. But she was alive through at least 2015,
living a modern life.
Ms. Lee had always lived simply, despite her fame and mounting wealth, and long shared a modest brick home in Monroeville with her older sister, Alice, who died in 2014. Ms. Lee could be seen around town in sweatpants looking for bargains at a Dollar General Store, washing her clothes at a local Laundromat, drinking coffee at a McDonald’s or eating at David’s Catfish House, where her usual iced tea and a small plate of catfish would cost about $6.
I read elsewhere that To Kill a Mockingbird brought in $3 million in revenues a year.
This bridge between “the classics” and Dollar General feels vaguely wormhole-like.