Truman Capote : in which various friends, enemies, acquaintances, and detractors recall his turbulent career / George Plimpton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Plimpton, George.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capote, Truman, 1924-1984.

Capote, Truman.

Capote, Truman, 1924-1984--Friends and associates.

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Friends and associates.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 498 pages, �24� pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, [1997]

Summary:

Using oral biography, a technique that perfectly matches the style of his subject, George Plimpton blends the voices of Capote's lovers, haters, acquaintances, and colleagues into a highly readable narrative. Here we are present for the entire span of Capote's life: his Southern childhood and his early days in New York; his first literary success with the publication of Other Voices, Other Rooms; his highly active love life; the groundbreaking excitement of In Cold Blood, the first "nonfiction novel"; his years as a jet-setter; and his final days of flagging inspiration, alcoholism, and isolation. All his famous friends and enemies are here: Katherine Graham, Lauren Bacall, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, William Styron, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, Lee Radziwill, John Huston, John Knowles, William F. Buckley, Jr., and dozens of others.

Contents:

Chapter 1 In Which the Reader Is Introduced to Monroeville (pop. 1,800), Harper Lee, and Goes to TC's First Big Party 3

Chapter 2 In Which TC Arrives in New York, Goes to a Succession of Schools, Fails Math, and Meets Some New Friends 25

Chapter 3 In Which TC Joins The New Yorker, Upsets Robert Frost, Writes His First Stories, and Joins the New York Artistic World 37

Chapter 4 In Which TC Is Accepted into a Writers' Colony in Upstate New York and into a New Circle of Friends and Meets Newton Arvin 51

Chapter 5 In Which TC Takes a Train Ride, Meets the Trillings, and Alarms the Island of Nantucket 69

Chapter 6 In Which TC's Other Voices, Other Rooms Is Published and Given the Critical Once-Over 75

Chapter 7 In Which TC Embarks on the Grand Tour and Visits the Salons of Paris 82

Chapter 8 In Which TC Moves Out of His Mother's Apartment and Meets His Lifelong Friend, Jack Dunphy 92

Chapter 9 In Which TC and Jack Dunphy Leave for the Expatriate Life of Europe 100

Chapter 10 In Which TC Receives Sad News 110

Chapter 11 In Which TC Tries His Hand at the Theater 116

Chapter 12 In Which TC Returns to Europe, Teaches a Large Bird Epithets, Writes Beat the Devil amid Bedlam, and Arm-Wrestles Humphrey Bogart 121

Chapter 13 In Which TC Settles Across the River 131

Chapter 14 In Which TC Speaks About His Working Habits, His Mentors, and His Aversion to Nuns Traveling on the Same Plane 137

Chapter 15 In Which TC Alarms the Town of Stonington, Connecticut 141

Chapter 16 In Which the Reader Is Introduced to the Swans and TC Is Seen as Counselor and Confidant 144

Chapter 17 In Which TC's Breakfast at Tiffany's Upsets Mr. Deems 161

Chapter 18 In Which TC Decides to Go to Kansas 166

Chapter 19 In Which TC Is a Witness to the Doings in the Penitentiary Warehouse 177

Chapter 20 In Which Chaplain Post Describes a Portrait in His Living Room 192

Chapter 21 In Which TC Discusses, in a New York Times Interview, In Cold Blood and the Form He Claims to Have Invented

the Nonfiction Novel 196

Chapter 22 In Which In Cold Blood Stirs Up Comment 212

Chapter 23 In Which Folks from Kansas Come to New York and Are Treated by TC to the Lights of Broadway 221

Chapter 24 In Which TC Settles in Sagaponack in the Hamptons 227

Chapter 25 In Which TC and His Contemporaries Have a Word to Say About Each Other 235

Chapter 26 In Which TC Decides to Give His Black-and-White Ball 247

Chapter 27 In Which the Band Strikes Up 257

Chapter 28 In Which the Dancers Reminisce 275

Chapter 29 In Which TC Steps into Bullrings and onto Yachts 279

Chapter 30 In Which TC Is Observed as Jester, as Little Brother to the Rich, and as Celebrity 285

Chapter 31 In Which the Reader Is Treated to a Brief Disquisition on Fibbing 303

Chapter 32 In Which TC Buys a Home in Palm Springs and Meets an Air-Conditioning Repairman 311

Chapter 33 In Which a Banker Comes to Call on TC at the UN Plaza 318

Chapter 34 In Which Kate Harrington, John O'Shea's Daughter, Tells Her Story 324

Chapter 35 In Which Society Recoils from TC's Bombshell 337

Chapter 36 In Which the Reader Meets Two of TC's Kindred Spirits 357

Chapter 37 In Which TC Drifts In and Out of the Movie Business 364

Chapter 38 In Which TC Meets an Idol 373

Chapter 39 In Which the Reader Learns of TC's Entanglement with Gore 377

Chapter 40 In Which TC Takes Up the Nightlife 384

Chapter 41 In Which TC Begins to Work for a Longtime Admirer 396

Chapter 42 In Which TC Falls on Bad Times 403

Chapter 43 In Which TC Buys a One-Way Ticket to LA 418

Chapter 44 In Which Mourners, Some of Dubious Note, Attend Services for TC at the Westwood Mortuary 429

Chapter 45 In Which the Mystery of Answered Prayers Is Examined 436

Chapter 46 In Which the Reader Is Let In on TC's Secret 452

Chapter 47 In Which TC and Jack Dunphy Are Reunited in Crooked Pond 460

Sources for Printed Material / Truman Capote, Jack Dumphy 489.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 475-490) and index.

ISBN:

0385232497