Truman Capote - Research Paper Example

I was obsessed by it”’ (69). 2. Works, contributions to literature and Popularity Capote went to live with his mother and step father in New York in his mid teens because of this uprooting from a town to the city and change of atmosphere in general Capote faced a lot of hardships in settling down. Consequently he left school and took a job in The New Yorker Magazine and with in a few years the young flourishing writer caught the attention of Bennett Cerf who was a publisher. Capote’s short story Miriam got him a contract with Random House.

From there his road to success and fame was easy and it also led him in to the heart of the elite and the higher social circles of New York. Another reason for this entry was that he had an open and friendly manner because of which he was always able to make friends easily. His acclaimed short novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s also takes inspiration from his experiences and the time he spent in the cream of these elite social circles. Moreover this particular novel was also made in a film which further shows the extent of Capote’s popularity.

Capote always said in 1978, ‘I had to be successful, and I had to be successful early’ apparently the author was able to fulfill his dream to the dot. He is considered to be the pioneer who introduced a new genre in the field of literature i.e. the Nonfiction Novel. This new genre of literature deals with the depiction of character and stories that were inspired from and are related to or about the people surrounding the writer. Although Capote gained a lot of popularity amongst his fans for such a depiction of the elite society in his works however this also earned him hatred and condemnation from his friends and family as also stated, ‘Capote's natural talent for weaving truth with fiction and his unflinching descriptions of his friends soon led to his rapid descent in popularity in the social circles he had worked so hard to adopt’ (capotebio.com). Capote’s novel ‘In Cold Blood’ was his first and the most famous nonfiction novel.

This novel is about the clutter murders in the Kansas state for this particular novel Capote did a lot of research and he interviewed a lot of people to retain the novel’s originality. His ability to befriend others easily was an additional help for his research because due to his friendly manner people always confided in him easily. This amalgamation of journalism and literature produced a fantastic piece of literature that was extremely liked by the readers and the critics in general. As Willis also states, ‘Capote said, “This book was an important event for me…I wanted to produce a journalistic novel, something on a large scale that would have the credibility of fact, the immediacy of film, the depth and freedom of prose, and the precision of poetry”’ (94).

However some of the critics also gave negative feedback as Krebs also states, ‘The critic Kenneth Tynan took Mr. Capote to task for being too strictly a reporter and not making an effort to have the killers' lives spared. Although Capote was a recipient of mixed praise from the critics in his life he only wrote 13 volumes most of which were short novels. Some of the critics thought that he had talent although he did not put it to good use. Krebs also states, ‘his old friend John Malcolm Brinnin, he failed to join the ranks of the truly great American writers because he