Truman Capote

Truman Capote
Truman Capote, as photographed by Roger Higgins in 1959
Born	September 30, 1924(1924-09-30) New Orleans, Louisiana , United States
Died	August 25, 1984 (aged 59) Los Angeles, California , United States
Occupation	Writer
Writing period	1943–1984
Literary movement	Southern Gothic
Notable work(s)	In Cold Blood , Breakfast at Tiffany's
Domestic partner(s)	Jack Dunphy
Influences [show]
Influenced [show]

Truman Capote (pronounced /?tru?m?n k??po?ti/ ) (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) (born Truman Streckfus Persons) ^[1] was an American writer many of whose short stories , novels , plays , and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's ( 1958 ) and In Cold Blood ( 1965 ), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel". At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays. In Cold Blood turned out to be a milestone in popular culture, being often credited with pioneering the "true crime" genre of nonfiction. From the time of its publication, its factuality and Capote's journalistic integrity have been called into question, and this has continued in the decades since his death.

Rising above a troubled childhood characterized by divorce, a long absence from his mother, and multiple migrations, he discovered his calling by the age of eleven and for the rest of his childhood honed his craft. As a professional writer, Capote started out as a composer of short stories. The critical success of one story, "Miriam" (1945) attracted the attention of the publisher Bennett Cerf , resulting in a contract with Random House to write a novel. The result was Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948). He attained instant celebrity as a result of the portrait photo which was used in promoting this first novel: in it he gazes smolderingly into the camera while reclining. He was invited to be a screenwriter. In the 1950s, his greatest success was a novella , Breakfast at Tiffany's, which was made into a very popular film starring Audrey Hepburn in the role of Holly Golightly. Capote's earned the most fame with In Cold Blood (1965), a journalistic work about the murder of four members of a Kansas farm family in their home, a book Capote spent four years writing. It was the peak of his career, although it was not his final book. In the 1970s, he maintained his celebrity by appearing on television talk shows . He spent years "on the skids" as an alcoholic.

 Early life

Truman Capote was born in New Orleans, Louisiana , the son of 17-year-old Lillie Mae ( née Faulk) and Archulus Persons, who was a salesman. ^[1] When he was four, his parents divorced, and he was sent to Monroeville, Alabama , where for the next four to five years he was raised by his mother's relatives. He formed a fast bond with his mother's distant relative, Nanny Rumbley Faulk, whom Truman called 'Sook'. "Her face is remarkable—not unlike Lincoln's, craggy like that, and tinted by sun and wind," is how Capote described Sook in "A Christmas Memory". In Monroeville, he was a neighbor and friend of Harper Lee , who grew up to write To Kill a Mockingbird (with the character Dill based on Truman). ^{[2] [3] [4]}

As a lonely child, Capote taught himself to read and write before he entered the first grade in school. ^[5] Capote was often seen at age five carrying his dictionary and notepad, and he began writing at the age of ten. ^[6] At this time, he was given the nickname Bulldog, ^[7] possibly a phonetic reference and pun of "Bulldog Truman" to the fictional detective Bulldog Drummond popular in films of the mid-1930s.

On Saturdays, he made trips from Monroeville to the nearest big city, Mobile on the Gulf Coast, and at one point he submitted a short story, "Old Mrs. Busybody" to a children's writing contest sponsored by a newspaper, the Mobile Press Register .

In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her second husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born textile broker, who adopted his stepson and renamed him Truman García Capote. However, Joseph turned out to be an embezzler and shortly afterwards his income crashed and the family was forced to move away from Park Avenue . When he was 11, he began writing seriously in daily three-hour sessions. Of his early days Capote related, "I began writing really sort of seriously when I was about eleven. I say seriously in the sense that like other kids go home and practice the violin or the piano or whatever, I used to go home from school every day and I would write for about three hours. I was obsessed by it." In 1935, he attended the Trinity School . He then attended St. Joseph's military academy. In 1939, the Capotes moved to Greenwich, Connecticut , and Truman attended Greenwich High School , where he wrote for both the school's literary journal, The Green Witch, and the school newspaper. Back in New York in 1942, he graduated from the Dwight School , an Upper West Side private school where an award is now given annually in his name.

When he was 17, Capote's formal education ended and he got a job at The New Yorker magazine, which he held for two years. Years later, he reminisced, "Not a very grand job, for all it really involved was sorting cartoons and clipping newspapers. Still, I was fortunate to have it, especially since I was determined never to set a studious foot inside a college classroom. I felt that either one was or wasn't a writer, and no combination of professors could influence the outcome. I still think I was correct, at least in my own case."