S4E6: Truman Capote

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: even joining the highly-exclusive jet set of 1960s and 1970s high society. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and the true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel". His works have been adapted into more than 20 films and television dramas. But Capote would be pursued by demons throughout his life – alcoholism, other forms of addiction, and crippling self-doubt which would end up leading him to destroy his own social reputation.

SOURCES:

Als, Hilton. “The Shadows in Truman Capote’s Early Stories.” The New Yorker, October 13, 2015. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-shadows-in-truman-capotes-early-stories.

Capote, Truman. Answered Prayers. Reissue edition. New York: Vintage, 1994.

———. Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories. Reprint edition. New York: Vintage, 1993.

———. In Cold Blood. Reprint edition. New York: Vintage, 1994.

———. Other Voices, Other Rooms. Reprint edition. New York: Vintage, 1994.

Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. Illustrated edition. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.

Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien, downloaded from WFMU's Free Music Archive and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicsdesigner.

Image via: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Truman_Capote_Moscot.jpg