Capote: A Biography

by Gerald Clarke

Book Overview

From instant celebrity at age 23 to overweight, alcoholic loner in his 50s, Truman Capote streaked across the middle of this century on a comet of genius, self-destruction, and fame. Drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with Capote and with nearly everyone who knew him, and with exclusive access to personal papers, Gerald Clarke has written the definitive biography of an incomparable man and his time. "Extraordinary . . . Rich in intelligence...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671228110
• ISBN13: 9780671228118
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 638 Pages
• Weight: 2.44 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Stunning and Melancholic to the Bone!

I am almost completing "Capote: A Biography" by Gerald Clarke and my head is still reeling from the after effects. I loved the book. I haven't seen the movie yet but I know that it is bleak considering the book is not a light read either. Capote's life has been contained marvelously in this book. It has character and a lot of substance. I wonder why every genius's life is so melancholic. Capote's life was no exception either. Abandoned by his parents at an early age he was forced to stay with his old cousins at Monroeville, Alabama and kept fantasizing about the day his parents would come and take him away. The day did come and Capote met his first love: New York City. Mr. Clarke's description of the New York Capote grew up in and flourished as a writer is simply outstanding. You can almost see all the sights and inhale its smells. Capote - the name was that of his step-father who eventually adopted him and who Truman grew close to. One would think that "homosexuality" would run strong in the book considering Truman's preference; however that is not the case. What is captured brilliantly is his rise from working as a copy boy for "The New York Times" to becoming one of the famous twentieth century writers. His flamboyance, wit, anger, a streak of bitchiness, lavishness, fastidiousness and ultimately is downfall. Everything that Capote stood for is interestingly written about. Right from his affairs to his one-liners to his impulsive behaviour and his kindness [which wasn't known to all] to the torture a writer goes through while working on a book [it took him six years to finish "In Cold Blood" which is now heralded as a modern classic] and the frustration when the accolades aren't enough. The book successfully depicts his many friendships with the rich and the known to the downfall when he published a part of "Answered Prayers" [his self-proclaimed masterpiece] in Esquire and the characters were based on his rich friends, who did not forgive him for that. This is the first time ever that I am reading a biography of a writer's life and I am so inclined to pick up more biographies of my favourite writers. To want to know more about their lives. I think next on my list has to be either F. Scott Fitzgerald or Anais Nin. What I also loved about this book was that Mr.Clarke does not mince words at any stage. It is as real and honest as any biography can ever get. Tragic life of a Genius and ultimately how he all drained it away! Absolutely Fantastic!

Only as tall as a shotgun, but definitely more noisey!

Give Gerald Clarke, the senior former Time Magazine contributor and author of Capote, a big hand for getting his arms around his ethereal subject, one Mr. Truman Capote, in a bear-hug, and pinning him decisively on the mat, in this immensely readable and well written expose/biography..I literally laughed out loud to myself on numerous occassions, at bitchy quotes from Capote, particularly when asked about Jacqueline Susann, at that time the author of the best selling book in the world, "Valley Of the Dolls"..Naturally, Capote was a little envious and chagrined at the avalanche of her success, especially when Johhny Carson popped the question on The Tonite Show what Truman thought about it's author Ms. Susann, and Capote snidely weighed in on her notably dark, exaggerated, masculine features.."Well, to me she rather looks like a truckdriver in drag."..Capote always grasped the head-line value of a zinger, and understood the public remembers the over-the-top one liner long after all else is forgiven, or forgotten!..And traded on his New Orleans bred "queenie" charm to barter his way into a clubby-high society world inhabited by his "swans", the wives of the most powerful tycoons of that era..Clark debriefs in scholarly detail exactly how Capote used his wile and wit to move up the ladder, in all matters, both professionally and personally, despite his miniaturish staure, baby-talk voice, and fey Oscar Wildeian mannerisms, he was a well lit fuse..And a dead-eye for exquisite, ante-bellum detail, with a musical, melodic ear for phrasings, reminiscent of F.Scott Fitzgerald, except possibly more refined, more psychological..Read this biography, and then see "Capote", the film, the section of this book that deals with "In Cold Blood," the gothic retelling of a senseless slaughter of an upright, God-fearing family in Kansas by two low grade drifters..You will appreciate the movie that much more, and too, realize how multi-talented Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the actor is, to have captured the chameleon qualities of this obvious bounder, and how Truman Capote was for a time the Man of the Moment in American Letters.

A Lovely Bio of an artist

I ran across this book and hadn't thought about Capote in years and got it on impulse. It is just a wonderful bio and captures what Capote was and why he attracted such attention. It is hard to imagine what a youngster he was when he came on the scene and how he was so very loved. The book is full of lovely stories and famous people. The chapters on the "swans" was my favorite but his relationships, the accounts of his writing, his amazing ambition and ability to have devoted friends and ultimately his terrible end are written like a novel. Capote was generous, brilliant, kind, warm, seductive,vicious at times and utterly captivating. I now want to reread his books. But the accounts of his travels abroad, his long stays at wonderful quaint places and the "moveable feast" of his early life made me long to have been there. I loved this bio.

The best book yet about Capote

By far, the best Capote biography to date. Clarke has a talent for giving us the facts, presented in such a way as to be entertaining and enlightening. He obviously knows his subject well and shows us this without pretension or the usual prestidigitation that so often accompanies biographies such as this. What strikes one first and foremost is the wonderful arc the book has. It is true that Capote's life had this arc already, but to be able to translate that from life to a book is not as easy as one would imagine.Given the incredibly spotlight life that Capote led, much of the information in this book is axiomatic: the incidents of early life in New Orleans and Alabama, his mother's bi-polar if not manic travails, the uprooting at an early age to live in Greenwich, Connecticut, the infamous New Yorker job he held but for a short while; his elbow-rubbing with the jet set, ultimately culminating in Answered Prayers; the resulting fall from grace; the drugs, the alcohol. But it is the nuances, the small findings in this book, that make it unique and give it an edge over others. Clarke relates at one point how ill read Capote was, standing up in the middle of a film of a Dickens novel, shouting, "They've stolen my plot." Or his sad and telling description of Capote's last days at the home of Joanne Carson. His last words? "I'm cold." And he was gone.This compelling biography is full of photographs that speak volumes as well: Capote as a child--innocent, a tabla rasa; Capote on the set of a movie; Capote vacationing. And a desperate-looking Capote clinging a little to hard to Marilyn Monroe. Wonderful and telling pictures that are enhanced by Gerald Clarke's troubling, wonderful, and ultimately entertaining look at Capote, the writer, and Capote the man. All-in-all a great read about one of America's greatest writers.

Amazing book about an amazing personality

I bought this book partly because I so enjoyed Gerald Clarke's biography of Judy Garland, "Get Happy," and Clarke does not disappoint. "Capote" is meticulously researched and yet reads like the most entertaining novel, it's so interesting and filled with such extraordinary characters. I've always been fascinated by Truman Capote, and Clarke has done a wonderful job of bringing him to life in a very balanced, human way.