Truman Capote

Truman Capote

Major Works

Novels

Capote published his first novel in 1948, Other Voices, Other Rooms, when he was twenty three years old. In 1965, afer consuming more than six years of his life, In Cold Blood was published.

Short Stories

In 1945, Miriam was published in the magazine Mademoiselle. In 1980, Music for Chameleons was published.

Plays and Screenplays

Capote wrote the screenplay for The Innocents, filmed by Henry James. The Grass Harp was turned into a play, but not successful.

Others

A musical, House of Flowers, was written in 1954 with the help of Harold Arlen.

Biography

Capote was born in New Orleans on September 30, 1924 to Archulus Persons and Lillie Mae Faulk (Persons) with his birth name being Truman Streckfus Persons. The name Streckfus derived from the Streckfus Company that his father was currently employed with. He was born in the Touro Infirmary. During that time his parents lived in the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans (133). He died August 25, 1984 , in Los Angeles at Joanna Carson‘s home, previous wife of Johnny Carson. He adopted the Capote surname when his mother divorced Archulus Persons and remarried Joe Capote. Before she committed suicide, Capote and his mother both admitted that she was not suited for motherhood. In the late 1970’s, Capote was treated for a drug and alcohol addiction and suffered from tic doloroux. Capote’s best friend growing up was his neighbor, Nelle Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee based Dill Harris’s character upon Capote. He had previously based the character of Idabel Tompkins in Other Voices, Other Rooms on Nelle Harper Lee. At the age of seventeen, Capote went to work for two years at The New Yorker. During those two years he wrote his first unpublished novel, Summer Crossing.

Awards

• 1946 - O. Henry Memorial Award - established in 1918 to be given to the best stories published in magazines - for the short story Miriam.

Timeline

In 1946 Capote was accepted into Yaddo, a writers’ colony in New York (51). In 1966 Capote hosted a masked ball for approximately five hundred of his closest friends in New York at the Plaza Hotel. In 1975, he allowed Esquire magazine to print portions of his unfinished novel, Answered Prayers.

Works Cited

Krebs, Albin. “Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity.” New York Times 26 Aug. 1984, sec. L1+

Long, Judy. Literary New Orleans. Georgia: Hill Street Press. 1999.

Plimpton, George. Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. 1997.