Truman Capote - cool or fool?

Too much self-promotion in the later works......and have you tried reading that unfinished draft of 'Answered Prayers' that was published some years back.

Did he? Gore Vidal argued with a few people, apparently.
I love Gore Vidal's shorter fiction. Not so keen on his 'histories'.

Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffanies - COOL. In Cold Blood - FOOL

Gore Vidal was also infamously punched by Norman Mailer, wasn't he?

The retort being 'Once again, Normal Mailer is lost for words'.
Quite a good comeback, while you're staggering to the gents with blood streaming down your chin.

you can actually see this exchange here: http://www.pitt.edu/~kloman/debates.html

cool!

8 July 2005. New York. Sony Pictures Classics is set to release the United Artists film Capote starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Chris Cooper for September 30th, which is Truman Capote¹s birthday.

The film is directed by Bennett Miller (The Cruise), based on the book Capote by Gerald Clarke with screenplay by Dan Futterman.

In 1959 the celebrated literary figure Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman), stunned by the brutal slayings of the Clutter family, sets out for Holcomb, Kansas accompanied by his friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) author of To Kill a Mockingbird, to do investigative stories for The New Yorker. Capote delves into the isolated small town and soon personally becomes entangled in the life of Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), one of the accused killers. His research resulted in the groundbreaking non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, changing journalism forever.

The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman (Truman Capote) and Catherine Keener (Harper Lee) along with Chris Cooper (Alvin Dewey), Bob Balaban (William Shawn), Amy Ryan (Alice Dewey), Bruce Greenwood (Jack Dunphy) and Clifton Collins Jr. (Perry Smith).

Didn't want to buy it, either.

50 years ago today

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a6a29512970b-pi

Wow, I just read In Cold Blood and really didn't realise that it took place forty years ago. I was totally impervious to the date of the murders. Anyways, judging on this one book of his I've read, I'd say cool rather than fool. And this from someone who despised that Capote film and, when watching it, thought the book would be horrible.

ha wow

From a July 23, 1970, letter addressed to Truman Capote by William S. Burroughs, responding to Capote’s In Cold Blood.

My Dear Mr. Capote,

This is not a fan letter in the usual sense -unless you refer to ceiling fans in Panama. Rather, call this a letter from “the reader” - vital statistics are not in capital letters - selection from marginal notes on material submitted, as all “writing” is submitted to this department. I have followed your literary development from its inception, conduction on behalf of the department I represent a series of inquiries as exhaustive as your own recent investigations in the Sunflower State. Your recent appearance before a senatorial committee on which occasion you spoke in favor of continuing the present police practice of extracting confessions by denying the accused the right of consulting consul prior to making a statement also came to my attention.

I have in line of duty read all your published work. The early work was in some respects promising - I refer particularly to the short stories. You were granted an area for psychic development. It seemed for a while as if you would make good use of this grant. You choose instead to sell out a talent that is not yours to sell. You have written a dull unreadable book which which could have been written by any staff writer on The New Yorker - (an undercover reactionary periodical dedicated to the interests of vested American wealth). You have placed your services at the disposal of interests who are turning America into a police state by the simple device of deliberately fostering the conditions that give rise to criminality and then demanding increased police powers and the retention of capital punishment to deal with the situation they have created. You have betrayed and sold out the talent that was granted you by this department. That talent is now officially withdrawn. Enjoy your dirty money. You will never have anything else. You will never write another sentence above the level of In Cold Blood. As a writer you are finished. Over and out. Are you tracking me? Know who I am? You know me, Truman. You have known me for a long time. This is my last visit.

haha, i just came here to post that very letter.

<3

......and have you tried reading that unfinished draft of 'Answered Prayers' that was published some years back.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Tuesday, September 21, 2004 6:13 AM (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm this shit is like a salacious gossip columnist crossed w tom robbins, and actually worse than that

lmao at that Burroughs letter upthread. classic.

You will never have anything else. You will never write another sentence above the level of In Cold Blood. As a writer you are finished. Over and out.

funny how this turned out to be true