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, consuming more than six years of his life, In Cold Blood was published.
Short Stories
In 1980, Music for Chameleons was published. In 1945, Miriam was published in the magazine Mademoiselle.
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. 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 During the two years he wrote his first unpublished novel, Summer Crossing.
Awards
Capote won an O. Henry Memorial Award in 1946 for his short story Miriam.
Timeline
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.
Additional Reading about the Author
Works Cited
Krebs, Albin. “Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity.” New York Times 26 Aug. 1984, sec. L1+