The Southern Haunting of Truman Capote

by James C. Simmons and Marie Rudisill

Like many Southern writers of the 1930s and 1940s, who as a group created the richest, most memorable body of regional literature in the history of American letters, Truman Capote eventually journeyed northward. As the years passed, Capote's moorings to his Southern past grew weaker and weaker, and he deliberately cut himself off from the people and places that provided fodder for much of his early fiction.The Southern Haunting of Truman Capote...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581821360
• ISBN13: 9781581821369
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing
• Length: 140 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

a nice southern book

I REALLY LIKED THIS LITTLE BOOK BECAUSE THERES NOTHING LIKE READING ABOUT SOUTHERN PEOPLE AND SOUTHERN WAYS. IT WAS JUST A WONDERFUL LAID BACK MOOD. VERY RELAXING TO READ.

simply fascinating

This book has so much detail in such few chapters. This story tells how Truman was first left to stay at Jenny's house..Also featuring the special tree house, the bone fence and the Sunday dinners. All these stories were wonderful. I've never read such interesting, real detail about Truman's life..this book is a must have for every Capote fan. Way to go Marie

FANTASTIC

THIS BOOK DECRIBES HOW EACH ONE A TRUMAN CAPOTE'S STORIES REFECTS BACK TO HIS CHILDHOOD WHERE HE WAS RAISED IN ALABAMA BY HIS ECCENTRIC AUNT SOOK FAULK..IN THIS BOOK MARIE RUDISILL CLEARLY DETAILS TRUMAN'S LIFE AS A CHILD..IF YOU ARE A TRUMAN CAPOTE FAN, YOU MUST OWN THIS BOOK..SIMPLY FANTASTIC

Fascinating Insights Into Truman Capote's Rearing

Ms. Rudisill is Mr. Capote's aunt, and lived with him during the first 7 years of his life. In this fascinating book, she recounts the connections between those years and later episodes to four of Mr. Capote's works (A Christmas Memory, The Grass Harp, "Children on Their Birthdays," and Other Voices, Other Rooms), as well as a feud and later reconciliation between she and her husband and Mr. Capote. Fans of Mr. Capote will find these new details of his life of interest both as biography and as context for his writing. Scholars, literary critics, and biographers will find much rich material here, as well.Mr. Capote was raised by his aunts in his aunt Jenny Faulk's house in Monroe, Alabama. This town is located about half way between Montgomery and Mobile. His mother decided that she simply could cope with him shortly after his birth, and dropped him off in Monroe before returning to her husband in New Orleans. Although initially abandoned by his mother (who sounds like she had a personality much like Mr. Capote's), he found lots of love in Monroe. His aunt Nancy (Sook) was totally devoted to him, and took care of him daily. She was one of those capable spinsters of that era who provided lots of connection for families. As "forgotten people" by others, they found lots of affection with each other.Mr. Capote used Sook as a character in his writing, and she was the model for Dolly Talbo in The Grass Harp. One of her major activities each year was making her "dropsy medicine" which provided a lot of her spending money. Although her family was used to Sook, she also was eccentric in many ways and probably helped to encourage Mr. Capote's eccentricities. His lifelong ability to have close friendships with women probably dated back to his relationship with Sook.There is a wonderful story in the book about how Sook helped him get his way about having a fantastic treehouse staircase that you will enjoy. Every child should have such an aunt!The book is organized into four chapters, each of which connects the author's memory to one of Mr. Capote's works. Two of the connections actually occur outside of Alabama in New York and Dallas, but also contain Alabama roots. But to me the most interesting part of the book was in the lengthy introduction where the author tells the story of her relationship with Mr. Capote in later years. He had become fascinated with antique crystal paperweights, and carried them with him on his travels. They made him feel at home in impersonal hotel rooms. On visiting his aunt, he discovered that she also collected these and had a consignment of them from Baccarat. He began taking vast quantities of them which she did not own, and she remonstrated. Mr. Capote promised to return them soon. Well, he never did. This caused great problems for the author and her husband because they did not have the money to pay for the paperweights. This marked the end of her paperweight business, and caused a lot of embarrassment fo