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Truman Capote

In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintences and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career

By George Plimpton (Author)

Paperback published by Anchor (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)

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About This Book
He was the most social of writers, and at the height of his career, he was the very nexus of the glamorous worlds of the arts, politics and society, a position best exemplified by his still legendary Black and White Ball. Truman truly knew everyone, and now the people who knew him best tell his remarkable story to bestselling author and literary lion, George Plimpton.

Using the oral-biography style that made his Edie (edited with Jean Stein) a bestseller, George Plimpton has blended the voices of Capote's friends, lovers, and colleagues into a captivating and narrative. Here we see the entire span of Capote's life, from his Southern childhood, to his early days in New York; his first literary success with the publication of Other Voices, Other Rooms; his highly active love life; the groundbreaking excitement of In Cold Blood, the first "nonfiction novel"; his years as a jet-setter; and his final days of flagging inspiration, alcoholism, and isolation. All his famous friends and enemies are here: C.Z. Guest, Katharine Graham, Lauren Bacall, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, John Huston, William F. Buckley, Jr., and dozens of others.

Full of wonderful stories, startlingly intimate and altogether fascinating, this is the most entertaining account of Truman Capote's life yet, as only the incomparable George Plimpton could have done it.
Show less
He was the most social of writers, and at the height of his career, he was the very nexus of the glamorous worlds of the arts, politics and society, a position best exemplified by his still legendary Black and White Ball. Truman truly knew everyone, and now the people who knew him best tell his remarkable story to bestselling author and literary lion, George Plimpton.

Using the oral-biography style that made his Edie (edited with Jean Stein) a bestseller, George Plimpton has blended the voices of Capote's friends, lovers, and colleagues into a captivating and narrative. Here we see the entire span of Capote's life, from his Southern childhood, to his early days in New York; his first literary success with the publication of Other Voices, Other Rooms; his highly active love life; the groundbreaking excitement of In Cold Blood, the first "nonfiction novel"; his years as a jet-setter; and his final days of flagging inspiration, alcoholism, and isolation. All his famous friends and enemies are here: C.Z. Guest, Katharine Graham, Lauren Bacall, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, John Huston, William F. Buckley, Jr., and dozens of others.

Full of wonderful stories, startlingly intimate and altogether fascinating, this is the most entertaining account of Truman Capote's life yet, as only the incomparable George Plimpton could have done it.
Product Details
Paperback (544 pages)
Published: November 10, 1998
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Imprint: Anchor
ISBN: 9780385491730
Other books byGeorge Plimpton
  • Out of My League

    Out of My League
    The Classic Hilarious Account of an Amateur's...
    A classic of sport, and the first of George Plimpton's remarkable forays into participatory journalism,Out of My Leaguechronicles with wit, charm, and grace what happens when a self-professed amateur wonders how he would fare on a baseball mound in a major league game. On an ordinary afternoon in the third-baseline seats of Yankee Stadium, Plimpton hits on what seems an inspired idea - to get on the mound and pitch a few innings to the All-Stars of the American and National Leagues. What begins as a fun-filled stunt, for the "average man" to pitch in the Big Leagues, comes to a nearly humiliating end. This honest and hilarious tale features Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Whitey Ford, Ralph Houk, Richie Ashburn, and other baseball greats. What happens when America's favorite sports dilettante tries his arm against the likes of Hall-of-Fame baseball players recalls the dreams of diamond heroics of every man who still has the noble heart of youth beating in him and the fears of anyone who has taken a lump or two from life.

    Paper Lion

    Paper Lion
    With his characteristic insight and wit, the Harvard-educated Plimpton recounts his experiences in successfully talking his way into training camp - not as a reporter but as aplayer- with the Detroit Lions, practicing with the team, and actually taking snaps behind center in a preseason game.

    Edie

    Edie
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    When Edie was first published, it quickly became an international best-seller and then took its place among the classic books about the 1960s. Edie Sedgwick exploded into the public eye like a comet. She seemed to have it all: she was aristocratic and glamorous, vivacious and young, Andy Warhol’s superstar. But within a few years she flared out as quickly as she had appeared, and before she turned twenty-nine she was dead from a drug overdose. In a dazzling tapestry of voices—family, friends, lovers, rivals—the entire meteoric trajectory of Edie Sedgwick’s life is brilliantly captured. And so is the Pop Art world of the ‘60s: the sex, drugs, fashion, music—the mad rush for pleasure and fame. All glitter and flash on the outside, it was hollow and desperate within—like Edie herself, and like her mentor, Andy Warhol. Alternately mesmerizing, tragic, and horrifying, this book shattered many myths about the ‘60s experience in America.

    The Bogey Man

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  • November 12, 2008
    FICUSFAN
    LibraryThing User

    I found this book to be very gripping. It was a page turner. It was an oral biography. Various people talked about Capote, from his childhood in Alabama to his death in California. Some people were obviously self-serving, or trying to bury a hatchet, or out to lunch, but it was still interesting, because they said as much about themselves as they did about Capote. It also let you see what type of people he was surrounded by.It provided information and context about Capote, without being too heavy or detail oriented. It gave you emotional as well as factual information, and opinion. Sometimes you could see the same event described by multiple people.I have been interested in Capote since seeing the fabulous movie, Infamous, which this book was the basis for. I wanted enough information about him to read his his stories and books about him, and understand the nuances, but I didn't want to get bogged down in the detail. This book was perfect for that.The anecdotes were arranged in chronological order so they seemed to tell the story of his life. They talked about his early writing successes, his involvement with the Kansas situation, the black and white ball, his flitting with the jet-set, his fall from grace with them when he published their gossip, his dabbling with Broadway and Hollywood, his lack of writing, his boozing and drugging, and his death.The only lack seemed to me was the lack of explanation about his relationship with Jack Dunphy. Truman seemed to be alone, but he was also with his lover Jack Dunphy. Jack would be there but not around, and the book never explained why ? Also why Jack never seemed to try to save him.

    Show less

    I found this book to be very gripping. It was a page turner. It was an oral biography. Various people talked about Capote, from his childhood in Alabama to his death in California. Some people were obviously self-serving, or trying to bury a hatchet, or out to lunch, but it was still interesting, because they said as much about themselves as they did about Capote. It also let you see what type of people he was surrounded by.It provided information and context about Capote, without being too heavy or detail oriented. It gave you emotional as well as factual information, and opinion. Sometimes you could see the same event described by multiple people.I have been interested in Capote since seeing the fabulous movie, Infamous, which this book was the basis for. I wanted enough information about him to read his his stories and books about him, and understand the nuances, but I didn't want to get bogged down in the detail. This book was perfect for that.The anecdotes were arranged in chronological order so they seemed to tell the story of his life. They talked about his early writing successes, his involvement with the Kansas situation, the black and white ball, his flitting with the jet-set, his fall from grace with them when he published their gossip, his dabbling with Broadway and Hollywood, his lack of writing, his boozing and drugging, and his death.The only lack seemed to me was the lack of explanation about his relationship with Jack Dunphy. Truman seemed to be alone, but he was also with his lover Jack Dunphy. Jack would be there but not around, and the book never explained why ? Also why Jack never seemed to try to save him.


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  • November 11, 2007
    JUGLICERR
    LibraryThing User

    George Plimpton describes this as an "oral biography". Plimpton interviewed a variety of Capotes friends, enemies and acquaintances, cutting and pasting their comments together to form a narrative of Capote's life. He states that the intended effect is like attending a party where Capote is the subject of conversation. The readers moves from group to group (miraculously in chronological order).I found this a very engaging book - I was constantly promising myself to stop at the next chapter and then continuing to read. Plimpton comments that one of the problems is that he cannot make people's recollections match, but that is one of the charms of the format, in my opinion. This is so intimate and immediate.The book is illustrated with dozens of photographs; the captions give Plimpton the opportunity to slip in a little inforamation that did not come up in the interviews. There is also a chronology, which I wish every biographer would include, as well as a list of the contributors with brief biographical information.If I were truly interested in Capote, I would also read a traditional biography (Plimptons recommends Gerald Clarke's Capote), but I would urge anyone interested in the subject to read this as well for a different take.

    Show less

    George Plimpton describes this as an "oral biography". Plimpton interviewed a variety of Capotes friends, enemies and acquaintances, cutting and pasting their comments together to form a narrative of Capote's life. He states that the intended effect is like attending a party where Capote is the subject of conversation. The readers moves from group to group (miraculously in chronological order).I found this a very engaging book - I was constantly promising myself to stop at the next chapter and then continuing to read. Plimpton comments that one of the problems is that he cannot make people's recollections match, but that is one of the charms of the format, in my opinion. This is so intimate and immediate.The book is illustrated with dozens of photographs; the captions give Plimpton the opportunity to slip in a little inforamation that did not come up in the interviews. There is also a chronology, which I wish every biographer would include, as well as a list of the contributors with brief biographical information.If I were truly interested in Capote, I would also read a traditional biography (Plimptons recommends Gerald Clarke's Capote), but I would urge anyone interested in the subject to read this as well for a different take.


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