Tag Archives: Truman Capote

“I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true.” — Truman Capote

It’s his birthday today. In Cold Blood put him on the map for all time. His journalism/literature hybrid told the terrifying story of a random murder in Holcomb, Kansas, where an entire family was annihilated in their own home, for … Continue reading

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“I am interested in the goddam sad science of war.” — Ernest Hemingway

Paris Review interview, 2007: Interviewer: Is it possible [Hemingway] showed a generation how to get emotion into a sentence without mentioning emotion? Norman Mailer: Yes, and he did it more than anyone ever had before or after. But he’s a … Continue reading

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“Beside her Joyce seems innocent as grass.” — W.H. Auden on Jane Austen

“The little bit (two Inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush.” — Jane Austen on her writing In 2020 – which feels like it was 1,000 years ago, I reviewed the new film adaptation … Continue reading

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October 2022 Viewing Diary

Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (2020; d. Lisa Immordino Vreeland) Fascinating dual portraits. No “talking heads”. The entire thing is made up of their own voices, told in talk shows, or interviews. Amazing footage I’ve never seen before. Christine … Continue reading

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Dynamic Trio #35

Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, and Tennessee Williams

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Recommended: Biographies

For starters: My recommended Fiction books My recommended Non-Fiction books BIOGRAPHIES: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph Ellis I’ve written a lot about Joseph Ellis’ work here. While I love David McCullough’s work so much, Ellis is … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Truman Capote

Gerald Clarke wrote the definitive biography of Truman Capote. It looms as large in the Capote landscape as Richard Ellmann’s biography of Joyce looms in Joyce-land. Published in 1988, no book since addressing the onslaught in American culture that was … Continue reading

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2018 Books Read

2018 Books Read 1. Tamburlaine, Part 1, by Christopher Marlowe I finished 2017 with Paradise Lost, in the mood to continue with rigorous challenging poetry. I decided to read the complete plays of Christopher Marlowe (re-read in most cases). The … Continue reading

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For Truman Capote’s birthday: his notorious profile of Brando

A re-post for Truman Capote’s birthday, which is today. Gerald Clarke devoted an entire chapter to how this 1957 profile of Marlon Brando came about in his definitive biography of Truman Capote. ‘The Duke In His Doman’ is a famous … Continue reading

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Bookshelf Tour #7

Moving on to biographies. Please ignore my wretched ceiling. I had nothing to do with it. I also lost the top shelf of my bookshelves when I moved here in February. Still room for a row of books though. I … Continue reading

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