by Erika Cox
Born September 30, 1924, Truman Capote was an American literary
genius, most famous for his 1965 “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood. A
writer since childhood, Capote is today still regarded as one of the
most noteworthy authors in American history.
Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons in Louisiana to a
16-year-old mother named Lillie Mae Faulk. Faulk and Capote’s father,
Archulus Persons, divorced before Capote was five years old, and the
boy was sent to live with his mother’s relatives.
When he was nine, he
rejoined his mother in New York, where he was adopted by her second
husband, Joseph Capote, who renamed him Truman Garcia Capote.
As a child, Capote carried around a note pad and dictionary and
wrote a variety of short stories and even a novel. After graduating
from high school, Capote secured an office job with The New Yorker and
continued to write short fiction pieces, which were published in The
Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Bazaar, Story, and Mademoiselle, among
other literary magazines.
In 1946, Capote won an O. Henry Award for the short story
“Miriam” and later that year, he was accepted to join the artist and
writer colony Yaddo in New York. The short story and his growing
respectability caught the attention of a number of publishers,
including Bennett Cerf, co-founder of Random House.
With a generous advance from Random House, Capote signed a
contract and began working on a novel, which became entitled Other
Voices, Other Rooms. It was published in 1948 and deals with subjects
like death, child abandonment, and homosexuality.
It was on the New
York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and stirred much controversy
due to the provocative dust jack photograph of Capote. Following this
success, Capote wrote a number of short fiction pieces, articles, and
plays in the 1950s.
Capote was lifelong friends with Haper Lee, another notable
writer during this time period. One of the main characters in Other
Voices, Other Rooms is based off his experiences with her, and Capote
is said to be the inspiration for her character Dill Harris in the
famous 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
Some critics say that Capote
had ghostwritten parts of Lee’s novels, but this remains highly
speculative.
In 1958, Capote’s success skyrocketed even farther with the
novel A Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The story tells the tale of Holly
Golightly, a young and mysterious Manhattan women who is the love
interest of an unemployed writer. A few years later, in 1961, it was
made into a film starring Audrey Hepburn.
Both the book and the movie
are fixtures in classic American pop culture history.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a personal turning point for Capote,
stylistically. His next book would be regarded by himself and by
critics as his greatest work. It began in 1959, when Capote read a
short article in the New York Times, describing the unexplained
murders of four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, a
small rural town.
The husband and his 15-year-old son were found in
the basement, with his wife and 16-year-old daughter in their beds.
All were killed by a shotgun at close range.
Capote became absolutely fascinated with the story and traveled
to Holcomb to visit the scene of the crime. With Harper Lee’s immense
help, Capote spent the next few years following the investigation and
doing interviews with local townspeople. In Cold Blood ran as a serial
in The New Yorker in 1965 and was published in its totality in 1966.
Capote insists that every detail of the book is true, although many
are skeptical of this. However, the novel brought him international
recognition and praise.
Capote was an odd man, who hung in eccentric circles. He spent
much of his time in public with Lee Radziwill, the sister of
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Babe Paley, although it was well known
that Capote was openly gay. He had a long-term nonexclusive
relationship with Jack Dunphy.
Capote went on to publish pieces of Answered Prayers, a
tell-all book in which he betrayed a number of close personal
relationships. He died in 1984 of complications of liver disease and
drug overdose, but lives on, especially in the 2005 biographical movie
Capote and the 2006 movie Infamous.
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