Truman Capote

He was a homosexual and did not hide this fact even though back in the day society had very rigid opinions on this matter. He was strongly attracted to professor Newton Arvin and even dedicated his book ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ to him. He shared a close relationship with writer Jack Dunphy, and the two were together till Capote died.

During his later years, he did not produce much literary work and was engaged with the media through radio and television. He was into drugs and alcohol and on 25th August 1984, he died of cancer at Los Angeles.

His first penned novel ‘Summer Crossing’ found after his death was published posthumously.

He was born to Archulus Persons and Lillie Mae Faulk on 30th September 1984, in New Orleans, Los Angeles. When he was four-years old, his parents separated and the young lad lived with his maternal relatives in Alabama. Later, his mother married Joe Capote and Truman went to live with his mother and step-father.

He received education from institutions such as the ‘Trinity School’, ‘St. Joseph Military Academy’ in New York. After his family shifted to Greenwich, in 1939, he joined the ‘Greenwich High School’. There this budding author began to write for the school’s literary journal as well as the school newspaper.

In 1942, the family moved back to New York City and he then, entered the ‘Franklin School’ (now the ‘Dwight School) and completed his graduation a year later.

In 1943, he was employed at ‘The New Yorker’ as a copyboy for two years. In an untoward incident the young author annoyed poet Robert Frost and was sacked from the job. Soon after, he went back to Alabama where he penned his first novel ‘Summer Crossing’.

His short story ‘Miriam’ was published in the magazine ‘Mademoiselle’ and won the ‘O. Henry Award’ the next year. During the same time, he also wrote ‘My Side of the Matter’.

In 1946, he was inducted into the artists’ colony ‘Yaddo’ which is located in the Saratoga Springs region of New York. During his stay at the colony this talented writer penned a novel and also wrote a short story ‘The Headless Hawk’ which appeared in the ‘Mademoiselle’ magazine.

His story ‘Shut a Final Door’ was published in the monthly magazine ‘The Atlantic’ in the year 1947. The same year, he wrote the novel ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’, which was his first novel to be published.

In early 1949, he published his collection of short stories ‘A Tree of Night and Other Stories’, and the following year another short story ‘House of Flowers’ and the travelogue ‘Local Color’ were printed. ‘House of Flowers was made into a play after a few years.

One of his most renowned works is his novel ‘In Cold Blood’ which was a non-fictional story according to the writer and was based on a true gory incident which claimed four lives of the same family under mysterious circumstances. His work was appreciated by both critics and readers alike became a bestseller. The author used many new techniques to give it a dramatic touch.