Capote: A Biography
by Gerald Clarke
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The national bestselling biography and the basis for the film Capote starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in an Academy Award-winning turn. One of the strongest fiction writers of his generation, Truman Capote became a literary star while still in his teens. His most phenomenal successes include Breakfast at Tiffany's, In Cold Blood, and Other Voices, Other Rooms. Even while his literary achievements were setting the standards that other fiction and nonfiction writers would follow for show more generations, Capote descended into a spiral of self-destruction and despair. First published in 1988-just four years after Capote's death, Clarke paints a vivid behind-the-scenes picture of the author's life-based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with the man himself and the people close to him. From the glittering heights of notoriety and parties with the rich and famous to his later struggles with addiction, Capote emerges as a richly multidimensional person-both brilliant and flawed. show lessTags
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An interesting read given the (latest round of) Cat Person drama. La Cote Basque is only piece of Capote's fiction I've ever read it, and I had sort of taken the word of retrospective writers that its publication had a really central impact in Capote's declining career and mental health. Clarke presents it differently here—that, rather than being a big mistake on Capote's part, it (and Answered Prayers, the never to be completed novel it was part of) was a sort of literary middle finger to the high society Capote was never quite accepted into, and that his mental health struggles were more closely related to his successes than his failures—and I feel inclined to believe him. And, regardless of Capote's motivations, it does feel a show more little deserved, anyway. You can't tell your secrets to the world's most famous gossip and expect it to stay a secret for long, right?
Anyway, the whole Answered Prayers ordeal is easily one of the least entertaining bits of Capote's life. Biographies (especially 600 page biographies) aren't exactly known for being thrilling, edge of your seat type pieces, but Capote's life is so full of bizarre and specific moments, it reads almost more like fiction. show less
Anyway, the whole Answered Prayers ordeal is easily one of the least entertaining bits of Capote's life. Biographies (especially 600 page biographies) aren't exactly known for being thrilling, edge of your seat type pieces, but Capote's life is so full of bizarre and specific moments, it reads almost more like fiction. show less
This was, without a doubt, the best biography I've ever read. Clarke couldn't have had a more interesting subject to write about. Capote's life seemed somehow larger than most, and Clarke makes you feel as if you were right there watching the action. He seems to have adopted Capote's In Cold Blood technique; he removes himself as a narrator and lets the events of Truman's life unfold as if he were writing a novel, a novel with some of the richest characters ever created. Yet it's entirely based on fact. It's absolutely fascinating and well worth a read whether you're a Capote fan or not.
Gerald Clarke is a pretty good writer, and man, is this book full of great gossip. My favorite story is the one about how Robert Frost had Truman fired from The New Yorker. Anyway, if you like gossipy biographies, do pick this one up.
I was not expecting to enjoy this nearly as much as I did, a really fantastic engaging account of Capote's life.
Gives great insight into its subject, skips around chronologically a bit too much, but is quite well written overall.
a first rate biography of truman capote. a very talented but flawed and tragic man. he was a greek tragic person excellent story
Well written and documented biography of Truman Capote.
Incandescent rise and dark and depressing fall.
Good read.
Incandescent rise and dark and depressing fall.
Good read.
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Gerald Clarke has written for, among others, "Esquire", "Architectural Digest", & "Time", where for many years he was a senior writer. He lives in Bridgehampton, New York. (Bowker Author Biography) Gerald Clarke is the author of CAPOTE, the much acclaimed, bestselling biography of Truman Capote. He has also written for many magazines, including show more Esquire, Architectural Digest, and Time, where for many years he was a senior writer. A native of Los Angeles and a graduate of Yale, he now lives in Bridgehampton, New York. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Capote. A biography.
- Original publication date
- 1988
- People/Characters
- Truman Capote
- Important places
- Alabama, USA; New York, New York, USA; Verbier, Valais, Switzerland; Venice, Veneto, Italy; Palm Springs, California, USA
- Related movies
- Capote (2005 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- "There's the one and only T.C. There was nobody like me before, and there ain't gonna be anybody like me after I'm gone." - Truman Capote, in conversation, June 1984
"And I only wrote half of what I saw . . ." - A quotation from Marco Polo, torn from a magazine and found in the papers of Truman Capote - Dedication
- To L.A.S. for faith and fortitude
- First words
- In those days people moved more slowly down there, and Arch, who did just the opposite, might almost have been taken for a Yankee.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And so, moment by moment, he had returned to the beginning.
- Blurbers*
- Bawer, Bruce; Lahr, John; King, Florence
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Reviews
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- ISBNs
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- ASINs
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