| Title | : | The Complete Stories of Truman Capote |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 140009691X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781400096916 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1993 |
Ranging from the gothic South to the chic East Coast, from rural children to aging urban sophisticates, all the unforgettable places and people of Capote’s oeuvre are here, in stories as elegant as they are heartfelt, as haunting as they are compassionate. Reading them reminds us of the miraculous gifts of a beloved American original.
The Complete Stories of Truman Capote Reviews
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A wide-ranging collection of Gothic tales, semi-autobiographical pieces, and satirical adventures, The Complete Stories of Truman Capote spotlights the writer’s versatile range of talent. Whether examining a young traveler’s close encounter with a strange couple or exploring a queer child’s relationship to his prodigal father, Capote consistently incorporated elements of the grotesque, lavish, and bizarre in his short fiction; his prose is as elaborate as his characterization is nuanced, and many of his stories take unexpected turns. Few other American authors of his generation matched Capote’s ability to build a strong sense of atmosphere, and his descriptive passages are unparalleled. Many of his stories, save some of the most anthologized, are open ended and resist academic analysis, but the best of his work is thought provoking and emotionally exhilarating. Favorite stories include “Shut a Final Door,” “Tree of Night,” and “One Christmas.”
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I've read a lot of Truman Capote, and have always liked his writing, and even his strange personality and flamboyant lifestyle, but I never realized what a genius he was til I read these early stories of his. The first one in this collection was written when he was 19. 19!!! The early ones are very gothic and eerie; the later stories are more professional and polished; but all of them were enjoyable little gems.
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What is it about Truman Capote? Despite the fact that he was unquestionably a minor writer, with an uncommonly thin portfolio of published work considering his forty-year career, he remains a figure of fascination. There have been books about him, movies, a Broadway play—and most of his own writing is still in print, still celebrated nearly thirty years after his death. And, even if I’m not always sure quite why, I’ve loved his work above that of virtually any other American writer for more than three decades.
I recognize that Faulkner, Hemingway, Henry James and the rest are vastly more important figures in the landscape of American literature, and I do love some of their work; but for me, well, I’d rather read Capote. Part of this may have to do with when I discovered him—at 20, just as I was graduating from the pulp fiction I’d read throughout my childhood and adolescence. Truman Capote was one of the first writers I’d encountered (along with Tennessee Williams, William Styron, and James Baldwin) for whom style was as important as story—who showed me that how a story was told was as important as what happened in it. I responded immediately and totally to his literary voice, and nothing made me fall in love with his writing harder than some of the pieces collected in “The Complete Stories of Truman Capote.”
Re-reading them now for the first time in a long while, I find that it’s still the early ones (originally collected in “A Tree of Night and Other Stories”) that move me the most—the Southern Gothics he wrote at the beginning of his career. Even here, I’m sometimes puzzled at how strongly I respond to these tales, considering how obvious their debt is to Carson McCullers and Eudora Welty. (His imagery and sentence rhythms are unmistakably reminiscent of McCullers, and his tale “My Side of the Matter” is uncomfortably similar in both style and plot to Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.”) Yet, despite the perhaps too-clear literary lineage, it seems to me that Capote’s brilliance with language and his ability to limn the emotional terrain of loneliness and alienation set him apart. Just listen to the opening of 1945’s “A Tree of Night”:
“It was winter. A string of naked light bulbs, from which it seemed all warmth had been drained, illuminated the little depot’s cold, windy platform. Earlier in the evening it had rained, and now icicles hung along the station-house eaves like some crystal monster’s vicious teeth. Except for a girl, young and rather tall, the platform was deserted. The girl wore a gray flannel suit, a raincoat, and a plaid scarf. Her hair, parted in the middle and rolled up neatly on the sides, was a rich blondish-brown; and, while her face tended to be too thin and narrow, she was, though not extraordinarily so, attractive. In addition to an assortment of magazines and a gray suede purse on which elaborate brass letters spelled Kay, she carried conspicuously a green Western guitar.”
This is the kind of writing you either respond to or don’t. For me, it was a definitive one-paragraph object lesson in how to set mood and tone in a short story. Many others—“Miriam,” “Shut a Final Door,” and especially the sublime, hallucinatory “The Headless Hawk”—provided more lessons. Even today, thirty years later, I feel I still learn from re-reading these remarkable stories.
It must be admitted that the later tales in the collection are something of a mixed bag. Capote lost interest in short fiction after his initial splash with “A Tree of Night and Other Stories” and worked only sporadically in the form thereafter. Of the later tales, the quasi-memoir “A Christmas Memory” is surely as perfect a piece of prose about that holiday as has ever been written. The other holiday tales, “The Thanksgiving Visitor” and “One Christmas,” while competent, seem anti-climactic after it.
Alas, I feel compelled to deduct one star from my rating—not because of Capote’s stories, but because of Reynolds Price’s unsympathetic and uncomprehending introduction, which should not have been published here. Between his bogus claim that the magnificent early stories “lack an emotional center” (it seems Price would have liked them to clearly be gay-confession narratives) to his dismissive remark that the extraordinary, much-anthologized “Children on Their Birthdays” resembles a “not-quite-finished” Welty tale, it’s clear that Price was the wrong man for this particular job. I can only hope that future editions of “The Complete Stories of Truman Capote” eliminate this silly essay.
Five stars for Capote; zero for Reynolds Price. -
This book contains 20 of Truman Capote’s best short stories that had been previously published, including:
A Christmas Memory - Buddy, his elderly cousin Miss Sook, and Queenie the rat terrier make fruit cakes for friends and strangers alike - one of the sweetest and poignant short stories I have ever read …
Jug of Silver - a pharmacist losing business to a rival drugstore holds a contest to guess how much money is contained in an empty jug of wine, which hypnotizes a desperately poor boy who tells everyone that he can count every coin in the jug
Miriam - a deliciously creepy story about a girl who won’t leave a widowed woman alone - great twist at the end!
A Tree of Night - a college student boards a train after her uncle’s funeral and ends up sitting next to a vaudeville couple who are even creepier than Miriam
The Thanksgiving Visitor - Cousin Sook invites the boy who bullies Buddy at school to spend Thanksgiving with them … poor Buddy learns a very painful lesson …
After each story I would have to set the book down and contemplate the perfection of these character studies and the tightly woven plots of these stories … I love how Capote is able to so perfectly capture the coldness of life in the big city, usually from the point of view of a woman drowning in ennui, and then portray kids and teenagers growing up in the humid depths of the South … his versatility as a writer shines in this collection … highly recommended! -
I lowered my initial rating from 4.5 to 3.5 stars upon going through my annotations. Truman Capote wrote 20 short stories – 8 of which I highly enjoyed, 5 I appreciate and 7 I didn't enjoy and/or didn't remember at all. This is quite a good score as I am usually struggling with short stories.
The thing that stood out the most to me is the fact that Truman managed to take the most simple and true-to-life situations – like a train ride home, the holiday season, suburban life – and spin them in a way to make them absolutely unique, at times even magical. Most of his stories left a lasting impression on me and I even found a new all-time favorite in A Christmas Memory (gosh, how I love that story).It's always the same: a morning arrives in November, and my friend, as though officially inaugurating the Christmas time of year that exhilarates her imagination and fuels the blaze of her heart, announces: "It's fruitcake weather! Fetch our buggy. Help me find my hat."
A Christmas Memory combines everything I love in a good short story: it has the perfect length (it didn't leave me wanting more, and it didn't feel like it dragged on for too long), the characters are quick to love and within a few lines one already feels very close to them, and the plot at hand is easily accessible (Truman jumps straight into the action but despite this everything feels familiar and in the right place).
I am such a sucker for intergenerational friendships and the one between our seven-year-old narrator and his elderly cousin is just so wholesome and pure, I can't even deal. They had me squealing and grinning from ear to ear, and by the end, crying my heart out.And when that happens, I know it. A message saying so merely confirms a piece of news some secret vein had already received, severing from me an irreplaceable part of myself, letting it loose like a kite on a broken string. That is why, walking across a school campus on this particular December morning, I keep searching the sky. As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven.
The humor was on point and ran smoothly through the story. Despite its heavy ending, it definitely has a light-hearted tone and is just overall a delightful (Christmas) tale. And the loving portrayal of non-conforming people whom others may deem queer is everything I want to see in fiction.
(Don't think I'm giving Truman a pass, he's fucked up big time, especially in his portrayal of POC in his fiction and his treatment of POC in real life but A Christmas Memory was pretty fucking flawless in regards to the representation.)
In general, Truman didn't shy away from writing about *different* protagonists. In Among the Paths to Eden, a widow is lurking on the local graveyard in hunt for a newly-widowed male lover. In Children on Their Birthdays, Miss Lily Jane Bobbit moves to a rural area in Alabama and breaks the hearts of all the boys in town, only to be run over by a bus. In My Side of the Matter, our protagonist is currently in hiding from his wife's aunts. Both of which are waiting outside of his room with a fourteen-inch hog knife ready to slice him open.
Truman also had a gift for ambiguous endings, and I was so here for all of them. When Miriam ended with the single word "Hello" and the reader is left in the dark as to who exactly said it, I was rocking in my chair screaming. Hot damn. In A Tree of Night, Truman creates this intense and creepy atmosphere as a naive young woman is cornered on a train, and the reader has to fill in the blanks as to what'll happen next. Most of his short stories really got me thinking and I appreciate that.
Nonetheless, there are still a bunch of trashy short stories in this collection that I'd recommend skipping. The Bargain, House of Flowers, Mojave and Shut a Final Door all deal with fucked up relationships of some sort – they're mostly about a married couple/lovers growing estranged from one another due to the fact that the man is a complete and utter asshole. There's a whole lot of sexism in these stories and his explicit language (e.g. his use of the word "cock" or "cunt") felt very out of place, and just there to "shock" the reader. It didn't really work for me. One Christmas was a huge let down as well. I thought I would absolutely eat that shit up as it is a sequel to A Christmas Memory but a lot of Truman's later short stories didn't match the brilliancy of his earlier ones. In One Christmas, Truman tried to manipulate the reader into caring for his characters by providing a super cliché "I was neglected by my father, pity me"-type of story that had my eyes rolling.
In conclusion, I am very happy that I checked out Truman's Complete Stories. He is definitely a gifted writer and produced some gems that'll stay with me for a long time. Given the fact, that I didn't really mind a third of these short stories, I think that a 3.5 stars-rating is actually pretty fucking fair. -
I really enjoy Truman Capote’s writing — hi stories, his paragraphs and his sentences, his images and insights. Here are some snippets:
“It was as if she were a child to whom he handed a balloon that kept swelling until it swept her upward, danced her along with just her toes now and then touching the ground.” From Among the Paths to Eden.
“He stood there whispering the names of the evening stars as they opened in flower above him. The stars were his pleasure, but tonight they did not comfort him; they did not make him remember that what happens to us on earth is lost in the endless shine of eternity.” From A Diamond Guitar.
“...of all things this was the saddest, that life goes on: if one leaves one’s lover, life should stop for him, and if one disappears from the world, then the world should stop , too; and it never did. And that was the real reason for most people getting up in the morning; not because it would matter but because it wouldn’t.” From Master Misery.
This next paragraph took me on a journey with an ending I would never have predicted and made me laugh.
“Now the problem of love concerned him, mainly because he did not consider it a problem. Nevertheless, he was conscious of being unloved. This knowledge was like an extra heart beating inside him. But there was no one. Anna, perhaps. Did Anna love him? ‘Oh,’ said Anna, ‘when was anything ever what it seemed to be? Now it’s a tadpole, now it’s a frog. It looks like gold but you put it on your finger and it leaves a green ring. Take my second husband: he looked like a nice guy, and turned out to be just another heel. Look around every room: why, you couldn’t burn incense in that fireplace, and those mirrors, they give space, they tell a lie. Nothing, Walter, is ever what it seems to be. Christmas trees are cellophane, and snow is only soap chips. Flying around inside us is something called the Soul, and when you die you’re never dead; yes, and when we’re alive we’re never alive. And you want to know if I love you? Don’t be dumb, Walter, we’re not even friends...’”
Who writes like this! Capote.
I am giving this collection a five star rating. Perhaps should be 4.5, with just a few points off because there were a few stories that didn’t seem quite as good as the others. But that is being a bit picky. If the problem of love was concerning to Capote, then an answer for him could be that there are plenty of readers who do. I am one! -
I figured I had better hurry up and read my copy of The Complete Stories of Truman Capote while it’s still what it claims to be. In less than a month Random House will be releasing
The Early Stories of Truman Capote, a collection of 14 previously unpublished stories written during Truman’s teens and twenties. I’m looking forward to seeing how they compare to the collection I jut finished.
This was a great collection of stories, one of the best by a single author that I have read. Even the least impressive stories herein are better than what many authors can produce.
It goes without saying that a character with as quirky a personality as Truman Capote is going to write stories that do not conform to most people’s expectations. Every story is vibrant and full of characters as well developed as they are unusual. Many are what one would call a slice-of-life sketch and even the ones that lack much plot are intriguing to read as one gets an almost voyeuristic sense that they are snooping into someone else’s life. Other stories read like something out of Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock. Three stories that do an especially good job of showing of the wickedly twisted side of Capote are Miriam, A Tree of Night and Children on their Birthdays.
My favorites, though, were the stories that border on autobiographical. A Christmas Memory was particularly touching. I don’t consider myself unemotional but I never in a million years would expect to find myself wiping my eyes after finishing a story about fruitcakes. Like I said, he’s good. Two other stories dealing with the holidays, The Thanksgiving Visitor and One Christmas offer even more insight into the life of young Truman.
Bottom line: If I was to assign school grades to each story, one or two would be a high C, four would get B's and the remaining stories would all get A’s or A plus. If you have never read Truman Capote, or know him only from
In Cold Blood, you really should treat yourself and read these stories.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered good or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire. -
Contains two of PB's All Time Greats :
"Miriam" (1945)
TC can write about kids really well, and as we know, he is suspected of having more than a hand in the writing of "To Kill a Mockingbird" which is all about kids. In "Miriam" we have an original character, a violent ghost girl. I have a list of people right here who I'd love to get Miriam to visit.
"Children on their Birthdays" (1948)
He gives away the punchline in the first sentence, then in the lyrical delirium of the prose which follows he makes you forget all about the fact that you already know the end, so deeply do you fall into the trance, then he knocks you flat on your back when it happens, and tears burst from your ducts. -
All of Capote's short stories in one book? Yes, please! This man is a masterful story teller. I am not one who usually likes short stories, but Capote wins my vote in the category! I'm a big fan. The end.
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Интересна колекция от разкази. Подредени са хронологично от ранния творчески период на Капоти през 40-те чак до 1982 г. Първата половина с по-ранни творби ми беше скучна. С навлизането в зрелия творчески период на Капоти, разказите ставаха по-добри, усещаше се и по-голямо задълбаване в биографични моменти от дeтствовата на автора в Алабама, лелите на Капоти бяха интересни образи, южняшката сцена беше изрисувана впечатляващо, както при Фокнър, Бредбъри и Харпър Ли, драмите с майка му и баща му в различни вариации - очевидно тема, която го е тормозела цял живот. Оценявам много високо втората половина на сборника, докато първата половина ме остави по-скоро безразличен. Затова и оставям една балансирана оценка, но искам да прочета и други разкази на Труман Капоти, ако има.
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Some of the stories were 3 star for me, like "Miriam"- which is too Poe-like gimmicky. But overall, and I am an impossible audience for short stories on the whole, I did like these. There is, for me with Capote- an often felt mood that belies some of the jolly words or situations of mirth. Rather partially that of an "outsider looking in" or nervous energy angst toward eventual rejection to the norms? Or a sense of bizarre meanness that's too easily understood? It parses out in the end to connote humility of a sort coming from the author, although the described manner and style of the same "eyes" is anything but humble.
His is a distinct personality imbedded in his works to a much larger degree than most successful writers, IMHO. His life story still seems remarkably sad, a real waste. -
I just liked it you see. I especially like all the stories with Southern settings. Not so much for the urban settings. Knowing this is my preference, I plan to read The Grass Harp.
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!!!
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"...of all things this was saddest, that life goes on: if one leaves one's lover, life should stop for him, and if one disappears from the world, then the world should stop, too: and it never did. And that was the real reason for most getting up in the morning: not because it would matter but because it wouldn't." (171)
I was already familiar with a couple of these stories (they were included in an edition of Breakfast at Tiffany's that I read earlier), but I've long wanted to read the complete collection. So, when my girlfriend told me the other day that she had started reading it, and asked me if I wanted to join her, my answer was an enthusiastic yes. My opinion of them all is akin to that of the few I had previously read: even if I don't always love the content of the stories, they are invariably beautifully constructed and impeccably told. And some of them I do truly love. -
I was not a fan of In Cold Blood which I felt glorified murder and also am not a short story fan. Capote was a pretty eclectic guy and this collection is proof of that. Didn't like them all, no surprise there, the surprise was that I really enjoyed some of them : Jug of Silver, The Thanksgiving Visitor, A Christmas Memory, and One Christmas. After reading the intro I believe these stories were certainly influenced by many of his own adventures as a young boy being raised in Alabama by extended family with mostly absent parents . The other ( more modern and urban ) stories have pretty random subjects and I liked them less. 3.5 stars
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Truman Capote es uno de mis escritores favoritos, no conocía la mayoría de estos cuentos y me encantó poder conocer otro angulo de la escritura de Truman. Creo que en la medida que leí las historias fui dejando un comentario por ende no tengo mucho que agregar, además, no creo que haga un resumen porque recomiendo leer los cuentos y se pueden encontrar por separado en la web.
Ya había leído "Las paredes están frías" pero en esta ocasión tiene un matiz diferente y no he dejado de darle vueltas al cuento. Creo que lo estoy pensando demasiado.
Un visón propio es un cuento corto pero me hizo ahondar en lo desconocidos que somos para nosotros mismos y para los demás.
"La forma de las cosas" es un cuento en el que nada es lo que parece y que al lector logra hacerlo enfrentarse con esos juicios a priori, además de mostrar las secuelas de la guerra.
"La Botella de Plata" es un cuento hermoso. Directo al corazón.
"Miriam" Hace mucho tiempo había leído esta historia y me había dejado con dudas sobre la explicación de quién es la niña y su relación con la señora.
"Mi versión del asunto."
La Leyenda de Preacher me pareció tan bonita y divertida.
Un árbol de noche. Que miedo me daba esta pareja tan extraña y estrafalaria. Me sentí identificado con Kay.
"El Halcón Decapitado"
"Cierra la última puerta"
"Niños En Su Cumpleaños" es uno de los cuentos que más me han gustado de principio a fin. La pérdida de la inocencia, la quietud del pueblo y ese personaje de diez años que es Miss Bobbit.
Profesor Miseria se ha convertido en uno de mis cuentos favoritos.
"La Ganga" Este cuento me recordó el cuento "Un visón propio"
"Una guitarra de diamantes" Me ha parecido el cuento más bonito y triste a la vez.
"Una Casa de Flores" es un cuento de tantos contrastes y me hizo reír. Es un cuento muy lindo y es genial ver tantas facetas de un escritor, estoy impresionado por estos cuentos tan diversos.
"Un Recuerdo de Navidad" Lloré con este cuento porque es hermoso. Odio la navidad y aún así es el mejor cuento de navidad que he leído.
"En la antesala del paraíso"
"El Invitado del día de Acción de gracias" Este cuento es narrado por el mismo personaje de "Un recuerdo navideño" así que volví a llorar porque tiene los personajes más bonitos del mundo. Miss Sook me hace arrugar el corazón y quisiera leer una novela donde ella aparezca. Amo de manera desmesurada este narrador y estos personajes.
"Mojave" Este cuento estuvo bien y entretenido.
"Una Navidad" En esta historia tenemos a un narrador que ya aparecía anteriormente y aunque no aparece mucho mi personaje favorito, si que lo hace y me encantó." -
4.5**
tbh everytime i read short stories my brain stops functioning but i loved these!!!
favs: a christmas memory
children on their birthdays
& jug of silver -
Truman Capote's writing is perfect. Not the least bit pretentious. He brings out the disappointments people and situations can bring, but he does so with such a quick and clever wit that you don't feel awful after reading. I would have been one of his fag hags.
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Back when I was a morbid little teenager, I had a slight obsession with In Cold Blood. I don’t know exactly why I loved that book so much, but I think I appreciated how hard Capote tried to get inside the minds of murderers. During college, I read a few of Capote’s short stories, and I really liked them, so I decided to read all of his short stories.
Truman Capote was a talented writer. It sucks that he squandered his talent by drinking himself to death in his 50s. The stories in this book are highly realistic. They’re full of keen observations and a deep understanding of human behavior. He had a gift for capturing the atmosphere of a place, from the not-always-glitzy upper-class apartments of New York to poverty-stricken rural Alabama. These fictions are like little time capsules. They’re snapshots of the world as Capote saw it.
I like that the stories in this book are put in order by publication date. The first story was published in 1943. The last was published in 1982. I always like seeing how writers grow over the course of their careers. I agree with a lot of reviewers (and some fancy literary scholar people) that Capote’s Alabama stories are the best. They’re livelier than his New York tales. The Southern characters are quirkier and (sometimes) easier to love than their Northern counterparts. I can see myself rereading the Alabama stories in the future.“This part of Alabama is swampy, with mosquitoes that could murder a buffalo, given half a chance, not to mention dangerous flying roaches and a posse of local rats big enough to haul a wagon train from here to Timbuctoo.” – The Complete Stories of Truman Capote
Obviously, I admire Capote’s work, but I do have an issue with him. Some of the stories have pretty blatant racism and ableism. I understand that the stories are a product of their time, but it’s still cringe-inducing.
I’m also not the biggest fan of the introduction that Reynolds Price (whoever he was) wrote for this book. It seems kind of harsh. If you’re about to read a big old book of stories, you don’t want an introduction that calls the stories derivative, “too easy,” and “[lacking] an emotional center.” That’s not how you sell a book, dude! I know that Capote was a teenager when he started publishing, and his early stories aren’t the best, but they’re not that bad. When I read Capote’s early work, I saw an extremely gifted young writer who was still finding his voice. All writers have to start somewhere. This book is Capote’s “complete” stories, not his greatest hits. Some of them are much better than others.
Let’s ignore Mr. Price. In my opinion, Capote excels at writing child characters. The kids in his stories are memorable little scene-stealers. All of my favorite stories in this collection involve children:My favorite-favorite story is “Jug of Silver” (published in 1945). It’s set in the Depression era and is about a drugstore owner who fills a jug with coins as a promotion for his store. If someone can guess how much money is in the jug, they’ll win it. Two poor children come to the store every day and study the jug. The townspeople vacillate between hope and horror at this. They want the kids to win the jug, but they’re scared of how devastated the kids will be if they can’t guess the correct amount. I was just as hopeful and horrified as the townspeople. I really wanted the kids to win.
One of the Capote stories I’ve read several times before is “Miriam” (1945). This story is creepy. A woman named Miriam meets a child who is also named Miriam. Shortly after the two Miriams meet, the child shows up at the woman’s house and begins to psychologically torment her.
“Children on Their Birthdays” (1948) is one of Capote’s most well-known stories. It starts like this:“Yesterday afternoon the six-o’clock bus ran over Miss Bobbit.” – The Complete Stories of Truman Capote
Miss Bobbit is a smart and sassy tween girl who has big business ideas and drives all the tween boys crazy. I like her huge personality. She’ll do whatever it takes to become famous.
Finally, I love Capote’s linked (and possibly autobiographical?) stories. They are “A Christmas Memory” (1956), “The Thanksgiving Visitor” (1967), and “One Christmas” (1982). These stories are about a young boy and his elderly cousin. The old woman has the mental capacity of a child, so they’re best friends and have a lot of fun together. It’s a sweet relationship.“Small towns are best for spending Christmas, I think. They catch the mood quicker and change and come alive under its spell.” – The Complete Stories of Truman Capote
TL;DR: If you’re interested in classic American literature, you can’t ignore Truman Capote. This collection shows his impressive writing skills.
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ENGLISH BELOW
Truman Capote is een van de grondleggers van New Journalism, een vorm van journalistiek waarbij literair schrijven en het vertellen van een non-fictie verhaal door elkaar lopen. Tijdens mijn studie journalistiek was In Cold Blood dan ook verplichte kost, en bovendien onderwerp van discussie. Want is het boek nou journalistiek, of niet? Is het meer Peter R de Vries, of toch meer Thomas Ross? Ik vond In Cold Blood heel interessant; het staat voor een nieuw soort non-fictie verhalen en is bovendien erg goed geschreven. En het gaat niet alleen om de gruwelijke details (hoewel dat dus een punt van discussie is) maar ook om de vraag 'waarom?'.
Dit is voor het eerst dat ik weer wat van Capote lees. Eigenlijk ben ik niet gek op korte verhalen. De reden? Het verhaal is meestal te kort om een blijvende indruk te maken, de karakters te oppervlakkig om herinnerd te worden en er is te weinig ruimte om de sfeer echt neer te zetten. De verhalen van Capote is een bundel met veel positieve verrassingen wat dat betreft. Vooral de verhalen die (gedeeltelijk?) autobiografisch zijn, blijven hangen. Een kerstherinnering, Bezoek op Thanksgiving Day en Kerst in New Orleans. Capote weet moeiteloos de sfeer neer te zetten, na een paar alinea's leef je al intens mee met de hoofdpersonen en het is mooi rond verhaal, lichtvoetig en somber tegelijk. Verhalen als dit kan ik eindeloos lezen.
Er zijn ook een aantal verhalen die ik gewoon wel aardig vind. En een heel aantal waarvan ik niets heb onthouden. Dat laatste gebeurt mij regelmatig met korte verhalen: te kort om te blijven hangen. Daarvoor moeten ze echt bijzonder zijn. Truman Capote had duidelijk een begenadigde pen. Hoewel niet alles even sterk was. En het schijnt zo te zijn dat hij na In Cold Blood nooit meer echt heeft kunnen schrijven. Ik ben zeker benieuwd naar zijn andere werk. Misschien iets voor volgend jaar. Ik zou zeggen 3,5 ster, naar boven afgerond.
ENGLISH
Truman Capote is one of the founders of New Journalism, a form of journalism in which literary writing and telling a non-fiction story mix. During my studies in journalism, In Cold Blood was compulsory, and moreover subject to discussion. Because of the question if the book is journalism or not? Is it more Peter R de Vries (non-fiction), or more Thomas Ross (fiction based on facts and reallife persons)? I found In Cold Blood very interesting; it stands for a new kind of non-fiction stories and is also very well written. And it's not only about the horrifying details (although that's a point of discussion), but also about the question 'why?'.
This is the first time that I have read Capote again. Actually, I am not crazy about short stories. The reason? The story is usually too short to make a lasting impression, the characters too superficial to be remembered and there is not enough room to really put the atmosphere down. The stories of Capote is a bundle with many positive surprises for that matter. Especially the stories that are (partially?) autobiographical stuck in my mind. A Christmas memory, Visit on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas in New Orleans. Capote knows how to effortlessly create the atmosphere, after a few paragraphs you are already feeling intensely for the main characters and it is beautiful round story, light-footed and gloomy at the same time. I can read stories like this endlessly.
There are also a number of stories in this collection that I just 'like', nothing more. And a whole number of which I have not remembered at all. The latter happens to me regularly with short stories: too short to linger. For that they have to be really special. Truman Capote clearly had a gifted pen. Although not everything was equally strong. And it seems to be that after In Cold Blood he could never really write. I am certainly curious about his other work. Maybe something for next year. I would say 3.5 star, rounded up. -
In Cold Blood was the first
Capote work I read, and this the second. I remain struck by how skillfully he builds scenes and atmosphere and just sucks you in. It happened 100 times faster in these short stories than it did in the book—no small feat considering I read while commuting on public transportation. The real world just disappeared and I found myself in Capote's characters' worlds, watching and feeling as the stories unfolded.
I'm not necessarily from any of the characters' worlds, but the stories are relatable because they're told with raw honesty. These stories divulge intimate choices and thoughts and desires, exposing the complexity of what it means to be human. Capote does this so well that sometimes—most of the time—reading the collection felt like reading someone's diary.
Excerpts that struck me:
Shut a Final Door"...[S]he told him: 'Sorry, Walter, I can't afford you any longer. I understand you very well, and I have a certain amount of sympathy. It's very compulsive, your malice, and you aren't too much to blame, but I don't want ever to see you again because I'm not so well myself that I can afford it.'" (117)
Children on Their Birthdays"'My precious papa said I live in the sky, but if he'd lived more in the sky he'd be rich like he wanted to be. The trouble with my papa was he did not love the Devil, he let the Devil love him. But I am very smart in that respect; I know the next best thing is very often the best.'" (145)
"It has not been easy for him, Miss Bobbit's going. Because she'd meant more than that. Than what? Than being thirteen years old and crazy in love. She was the queer things in him, like the pecan tree and liking books and caring enough about people to let them hurt him. She was the things he was afraid to show anyone else." (153)
The Thanksgiving Visitor"Perhaps it was strange for a young boy to have as his best friend an aging spinster, but neither of us had an ordinary outlook or background, and so it was inevitable, in our separate loneliness, that we should come to share a friendship apart." (243)
Mojave"A few he had discovered himself; the majority were 'romances' she herself had stage-managed, friends she'd introduced him to, confidantes she had trusted to provide him with an outlet but not to exceed the mark." (285)
"'It doesn't matter whose fault it is. We all, sometimes, leave each other out there under the skies, and we never understand why.'" (285) -
Capote's short stories are well worth the read. I had already read "In Cold Blood" but never any of his fictional work, but he is excellent at both. They are not as ambiguous as J.D. Salinger's short stories and that is why I preferred them - they have a beginning, middle and an end, and they are just as well-written. He conveys the feel of New York through many of his stories, which is why they remind me of Salinger sometimes, but he also has many stories which take place in the south and those seem to me more personal and full of life. The stories which pertained to his childhood with Miss Sook and his other relatives as well as Queenie the dog were the most touching, to me, and they show what a sad childhood he had, although Miss Sook was certainly a ray of sunshine and warmth during that time. He has a very dark side, as can be seen from certain stories like "The Headless Hawk" and "Miriam," so I can see why he was able to write "In Cold Blood" so well. The edition I read had an introduction by Reynolds Price and that was the only part of the book I disliked, as I got the feeling that Price didn't really think Capote was that great of a writer and instead of celebrating him in the introduction I felt like he mostly pointed out Capote's faults. It just seemed like an introduction should be written by someone who really truly appreciates the writer, not just someone with credentials. True, Capote's life was very sad and his demise into drugs and alcohol was a terrible end to his life, but he was a great writer and in this circumstance his works should be celebrated rather than focusing so much on the negativity.
I feel that Capote is one of those great American authors who doesn't always get his due nowadays and this is a big mistake. His writing is rich and his stories are engaging, his characters are interesting and he has a great way of carrying a story along. -
Truman Capote was one of the great American writers of the 20th Century. It's a shame he didn't better utilize his talent.
This is a fine collection of Capote's short stories. Most have a glossy magazine feel to them, but they are well-crafted and interesting to read. The holiday stories are masterpieces. -
4+. All the stories were not great, some were uncomfortably creepy, but the great ones were truly great. The closer he stayed to his roots, the better they were, I think. The ones where he was remaking himself in NYC were more surface and shine, a bit like a foreshadowing of his becoming one of the people more famous for being famous in his later years than for producing great work.
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Monroeville, AL has this mural with a big mockingbird on it that says, "The Home of Harper Lee". Where's the mural for Truman Capote?
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If all the stories had been of the same calibre as ‘A Christmas Memory’ this would have been 5 stars. As it is the early pieces are too slight with dialogue as thick as molasses; later stories like ‘Mojave’ are hateful.
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Citaat : Lijkt ze niet net op een ijsbloem… zo stralend en wit? uit Miriam
Review : Truman Garcia Capote (1924- 1984) was een Amerikaans schrijver. Hij schreef fictie, non-fictie, korte verhalen en theaterstukken. Zijn bekendste werken zijn de factionroman In Cold Blood en de novelle Breakfast at Tiffany's. Capote werd geboren als Truman Streckfus Persons in New Orleans. Hij was een eenzaam kind en leerde zichzelf lezen voordat hij naar de basisschool ging. Op zijn vierde verhuisde hij naar Monroeville waar hij bevriend raakte met de latere auteur Harper Lee, zijn buurmeisje. Met haar zou hij een levenslange vriendschap onderhouden en hij was van invloed op haar bekendste werk To Kill a Mockingbird. Capote zelf begon te schrijven op zijn achtste en beweerde op zijn negende al een boek te hebben geschreven. Toen hij 11 werd begon hij serieus aan het schrijven van boeken. In 1933 verhuisde hij naar New York om met zijn moeder en haar tweede echtgenoot, Joseph Capote, te gaan leven, wiens naam hij ook aannam. Toen hij zeventien was begon hij al te schrijven voor het tijdschrift The New Yorker.
Zijn debuutroman Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948) was direct een groot succes en werd een bestseller. Het boek stond meer dan negen weken bovenaan de literatuurlijst van de New York Times. Na Other Voices, Other Rooms volgden er meer werken. Breakfast at Tiffany's was een succes, evenals In Cold Blood, een faction roman' over een brute moord op een gezin in Holcomb (Kansas). Capote dook diep in de zaak en sprak met iedereen die te maken had met de zaak, waaronder de twee, ter dood veroordeelde, moordenaars. Hij raakte bevriend met de moordenaars waardoor het voor hem zeer moeilijk werd om het boek af te maken. Dit conflict was de basis voor een verfilming van deze periode in zijn leven: Capote (2005).
Pas in 2005 verscheen Summer Crossing (in het Nederlands vertaald als Een zomer lang). Het manuscript van deze kleine roman, geschreven in de jaren veertig (nog voor Other Voices, Other Rooms), dook in 2004 op bij een veiling. Na het succes van In Cold Blood had Capote dit manuscript ('niet geschikt voor publicatie') bij het oud papier gezet, waar het Capote was openlijk homoseksueel in een tijd waarin dat nog ongebruikelijk was. Hij stond bekend om zijn hoge, lispelende stem en aparte kleding. Zijn gelijkenis met de eveneens homoseksuele dandy, Oscar Wilde, is treffend. Hij was een beroemdheid in de literaire kringen van de Verenigde Staten en beweerde vele beroemdheden intiem te kennen, wat achteraf lang niet altijd waar bleek te zijn. In zijn latere leven leefde Capote teruggetrokken. Hij raakte verslaafd aan alcohol en drugs, wat grote negatieve gevolgen voor zijn gezondheid had. Hij leed vaak aan hallucinaties door zijn afhankelijkheid van stimulerende middelen. Capote overleed in augustus 1984 op 59-jarige leeftijd als gevolg van een overdosis in het huis van Joanne Carson, voormalig echtgenote van de beroemde tv-presentator Johnny Carson.
Hoewel Capote vooral bekend is van Breakfast at Tiffany’s en In Cold Blood, , noemde Capote zelf het korte verhaal als zijn ‘grote liefde’. Voor het eerst verschijnen nu alle eenentwintig ‘volwassen’ verhalen van Capote in Nederlandse vertaling. Naast klassiekers als ‘Een nachtboom’ en ‘Een kerstherinnering’ zijn er een tiental niet eerder vertaalde ver halen opgenomen. Alle onvergetelijke locaties en personages uit Capotes oeuvre komen aan bod: van het ruige Zuiden tot de chique Oostkust, van plattelandskinderen tot mondaine dames op leeftijd. ‘Wie wil ontdekken wat voor stilist Capote was, kan het beste zijn verhalen lezen.’ Truman Capotes’ fictie en autobiografische werken hielpen meee bij de creatie van wat men de wezenlijke homoseksuele schrijfstijl van de jaren 1950 en 1960 kan noemen, met duidelijke links naar het werk van Tennessee Williams bijvoorbeeld. Deze stijl was enerzijds “verborgen”, aangezien het zelden op een open manier over homoseksualiteit sprak, maar anderzijds ook “open”, omdat de code voor homoseksuele interpretaties heel gemakkelijk te doorgronden was. De basis voor deze stijl kan gevonden worden in de nadruk op zijn zuiderse achtergrond in werken zoals zijn eerste roman, “Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948)”, “The Grass Harp (1951)”, “A Christmas Memory (1966)”, e.a. Zijn aandacht voor oudere vrouwelijke personages; zijn omschrijvingen in zijn werken, wat in die tijd gelijk stond aan een soort van “gevoeligheid” (bijvoorbeeld, de voorrang die hij gaf aan gevoelens en emoties boven daden) en uiteindelijk, zijn eigen vervrouwelijkte, zuiderse manieren tijdens praatprogramma’s op televisie in de jaren 1960 en 1970, die gekenmerkt werden door zijn scherpzinnigheid, hatelijke opmerkingen en onmiddellijke beledigingen voordat alcohol zijn ooit zo wonderlijke brein benevelde. Het misschien wel meest duidelijke voorbeeld van Capotes’ homoseksuele gevoeligheid is in “Breakfast at Tiffany´s (1958)”. Zoals Clarke aantoont, was de heldin in de roman, Holly Golightly, een fusie tussen de eigenzinnige, knappe, sociaal ambitieuze vrouwen die Capote kende en aanbad. Met haar ongelukkige achtergrond, gevolgd door een reis naar New York, leek Holly’s leven het verlangen van vele homoseksuele mannen te reflecteren die vluchten naar de grote stad om vrijheid te vinden. Toch was ze ondanks alles een vrouw – op een Auntie Mame wijze – en geen mannelijke travestiet. Capotes’ kundigheid om de ondraaglijk onjuiste veronderstellingen over homoseksuele mannen in kunst om te zetten, is één van de vlakken waarop hij erg ondergewaardeerd werd. Capotes’ vrouwelijke personages zijn geen homofantasieën over vrouwen. Capote toont daarentegen aan dat de zorgen en de emotionele behoeften van vrouwen en homoseksuele mannen met elkaar verweven zijn.
Het verhaal “Miriam”, gepubliceerd in Mademoiselle in 1945, was het begin van Capotes’ carrière, wiens’ reputatie daarna verder versterkt werd door de publicatie van “A Tree of Night” in Harpers’ Bazaar datzelfde jaar. Zijn beste journalistiekwerk is “The Muses Are Heard (1956)”, het relaas over een voornamelijk zwart gezelschap dat door de Sovjet-Unie toert met “Porgy and Bess”. Zijn Mademoiselle-debuut ‘Miriam’, ook opgenomen in deze bundel, was Capote’s doorbraak in literair New York. Het is een raadselachtige vertelling met die typische Capote-eigenschap: plotseling verschijnt er een problematisch personage, dat een spoor van vernieling achterlaat en dan weer verdwijnt. De vereenzaamde oudere weduwe Miriam Miller komt op een sneeuwavond een meisje met zilverwitte haren tegen, wachtend bij de bioscoopingang. Ze vraagt Mrs. Miller om voor haar een kaartje te kopen. Ze heeft geld, en een uitgebreide woordenschat. Dan scheiden hun wegen, totdat de kleine Miriam een week later op weer een sneeuwavond uitgehongerd bij Mrs. Miller aanbelt. En dan is er ook ‘De havik zonder kop’. Waaron de 36-jarige galeriemedewerker Vincent Waters een zwakke werkelijkheidszin heeft en zich achtervolgd weet door een buitenissig geklede jonge vrouw. Later duikt zij op in de galerie en biedt haar schilderijen te koop aan. Wie is zij? Waar komt ze vandaan?
Niet alleen ‘Miriam’ en ‘De havik zonder kop’ zijn vertellingen waarin de identiteit van het hoofdpersonage op drijfzand lijkt te berusten na de plotselinge verschijning van een mysterieuze ander. In het gevangenisverhaal ‘Een diamanten gitaar’ is het een veroordeelde jonge en vrijheidlievende Cubaan die geplaatst wordt in een gevangenisboerderij en daar de levenslang vastzittende ‘leider’ Mr. Shaeffer uit zijn evenwicht brengt. In ‘Preacher’s Legend’ ziet Mr. Preacher – stokoud, zwart en analfabeet – in twee opeens opduikende blanke jagers Jezus en een heilige die hem mee willen nemen naar de hemel. Achter al die onverwachte verschijningen en abrupte verdwijningen zit één overheersend verlangen: de honger naar liefde van degene die in de steek wordt gelaten. De verhalen van Truman capote hebben nog niets aan hun actualiteit ingeboet en weten nog immer te boeien en te verwonderen. -
He leído estos cuentos a lo largo de un extenso periodo y los he acabado recientemente. Lo malo de haber ido espaciando su lectura es que, a la hora de ponerme a hacer una reseña, no tengo en la cabeza tantos datos, ni las ideas tan frescas respecto de muchos de los cuentos.
Sin embargo sí tengo clara mi impresión general de que Capote es un grandísimo escritor, capaz de transmitir la atmósfera de las localidades sureñas de Estados Unidos de manera muy personal y sutil, destacando cierto tono gótico, misterioso y un poco perverso en algunas de las narraciones. Pero no es éste el único contexto de estos cuentos, Nueva York y cierta sociedad elegante y moderna también aparece magistralmente retratada.
Igualmente es un agudísimo observador de la conducta humana y a menudo sus personajes quedan perfectamente individualizados con un par de frases. Las voces de todos ellos son siempre auténticas y su dominio del diálogo magistral. Pero, una de las cosas más extraordinarias para mí es que su ojo puede ser a la vez cáustico y compasivo.
En ocasiones, las historias acaban de un modo que proyecta una interpretación diferente sobre todo lo anterior y hay temas que se repiten, como el de la estrecha relación de un niño huérfano o similar con una pariente mayor, o incluso anciana, considerada alguien marginal en la familia y que constituye todo su mundo.
Realmente me habría hecho falta tomar notas para poder ilustrar todo esto con los maravillosos ejemplos de que está llena esta colección: ejemplos de poesía, de humor, de inteligencia... Como ocurre en la obra de todo maestro. -
Herkes gibi bir sürü hedef koyarak başladığım 2019'da okuduğum ilk kitap yakın zamanda okumayı hiç hedeflemediğim bir kitap oldu ama iyi ki de böyle oldu. Yazarın Soğukkanlılıkla kitabı bu sene okumak istediklerimden. Onun öncesinde yazarın çoğunu gençlik döneminde kadın dergileri için yazdığı tüm öykülerini okumak çok güzel oldu. Aslında işe ilk Capote'nin 1950'lerin sonuna doğru Varlık Yayınları'ndan çıkmış Gece Ağacı isimli öykü kitabıyla başladım. O kitaptaki öyküleri sevince bu kitaba geçtim. Bana göre kitaptaki en güzel öykü Başsız Atmaca idi. Onun dışında sevdiğim öyküler Gümüş Damacana, Gece Ağacı ve Doğum Günlerinde Çocuklar. Kitaptaki 20 öykünün her birine 5 üzerinden not verdim. Ortalama notum 3.81 Capote sevdiyseniz bu öykülere de göz atmanızı tavsiye ederim.
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Αγαπημένα και αλησμόνητα: Ένα Δέντρο από νύχτα και Ένα Σπίτι από Λουλούδια...
