Prejean, Helen: *1939
Information about Truman Capote
- General Information
- Facts
- Full name: Truman Streckfus Persons
- Even as a child, Capote wanted to become famous. He moved with his mother to New York City and applied to the prestigious Trinity School. He was given an IQ test as an entrance exam, and he scored 215, the highest in the school's history. Capote said, "I was having 50 perceptions a minute to everyone else's five. I always felt nobody was going to understand me, going to understand what I felt about things. I guess that's why I started writing."
from The Writer's Almanac - An Iconic American Writer -Biography
- Brief biography read by Arianne Carey. Can be used as listening comprehension exercise.
- TranscriptTruman Capote was born in New Orleans on September 30, 1924, the son of a salesman and a 16-year-old beauty queen. His father never stuck to any job for long and was always leaving home in search for new opportunities. The unhappy marriage gradually disintegrated. When Capote was four, his parents eventually divorced.
The young Truman was brought up in Monroeville, Alabama. After Capote's mother married again, this time a well-to-do businessman, Capote moved to New York and adopted his stepfather's surname.
At the age of seventeen, Capote ended his formal schooling. He went to Europe, where he wrote fiction and non-fiction. These European years marked the beginning of Capote's work for theater and films.
In 1958 he returned to the United Sates and wrote "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Increasing preoccupation with journalism formed the basis for the best seller "In Cold Blood," a pioneering work of documentary novel or nonfiction novel. The research work and writing took six years to finish.
Negative anecdotes about the people he knew distanced him from his friends.
Truman Capote died in Los Angeles, California, on August 26, 1984.
- Transcript
- Podcast
Born in a violent and difficult childhood in the American South, Truman Capote would rise to the highest levels of literary celebrity, praise, and fame - Bibliography.
- About Truman Capote
- Previously unknown boyhood tales published. The Guardian; October 9, 2014
- Capote’s Rise to NYC’s High Society: "Focus on Capote’s relationship with a group of high society New York City socialites, with whom he became close friends and later betrayed them." Women's Wear Daily; January 25, 2024
- Truman Capote’s unhappy ending: "Long a heavy drinker and cigarette smoker, by the early 1970s Capote was abusing cocaine, alcohol, tranquilizers, marijuana and other substances." PBS News; October 1, 2022
- Gerald Clark talks about Truman Capote. SwissEduc; host: Bernadette Conrad, Literaturhaus Zurich, Switzerland; March 20, 2007
- Gerald Clark talks about writing "Capote: A Biography" and Truman Capote. SwissEduc; host: Hans Fischer, Zurich, Switzerland; March 18, 2007
- Video (1:08:07)
Mr. Plimpton discusses his book "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career". C-SPAN; December 4, 1997 - A discussion examining the life and works of writer and pop-culture personality, Truman Capote.
- Articles
- Unmourned Losses, Unsettled Claims. "How Capote went from an enchanter to someone you wanted to hold away from you with a pair of tongs is an amazing story, as disturbing as anything Capote ever wrote." New York Times; June 12, 1988.
- How Truman Capote Became a Cautionary Tale of Celebrity Culture. "Talk-show hosts courted Capote because he was a gifted storyteller who could be counted on to say something provocative." The National Endowment for the Humanities; Summer 2017.
- Interview with George Plimpton, author of "Truman Capote, In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career" from Randomhouse.
- A new documentary, "The Capote Tapes," centers around the author's unfinished novel "Answered Prayers" -- the project that destroyed his social standing and led to his decline. PBS; February 4, 2021
- Truman Capote "Playboy" manuscript, one of the author's final works. January 27, 2016
- Geography
- Obituaries
- Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity by Albin Kress, New York Times, August 28, 1984.
- The True Story of the Author's Untimely Death: "By the time he died, his reputation was so tarnished that the New York Times’ obituary only waited until the fourth paragraph to write that, according to his critics, Capote “failed to join the ranks of the truly great American writers because he squandered his time, talent and health on the pursuit of celebrity, riches and pleasure.” Town and Country; March 07, 2024