Truman Capote Biography and Works

American Literary Classics Writer Best-Known for In Cold Blood

Aug 6, 2009

Brief biography and works of American author and journalist Truman Capote, famous for Breakfast at Tiffany's and other short-stories like A Christmas Memory.

Truman Capote, American novelist, journalist, short-story and non-fiction writer, is best known for In Cold Blood, his fictionalized account of a true-life murder, and other Capote movies from his screenplays. His novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's became a blockbuster film starring the famous actress Audrey Hepburn.

Early Life of Truman Capote

Truman Streckfus Persons was born on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans, the son of a salesman and a 16-year-old beauty queen. When he was four-years-old, his parents divorced and he went to live with different relatives.

At the age of 15, he was adopted by his mother's second husband, a Cuban businessman. He took his stepfather's surname, and became Truman Garcia Capote.

Capote started to write stories when he was only eight. Although he won several prizes at school for his fiction, he left when he was 17 and decided to become a journalist. He was a best friend of Harper Lee, author of the famous classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Truman Capote's Novels, Non-fictions and Short-Stories

Capote's first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, was published when he was 24-years-old. This story and his later novel The Grass Harp are about growing up in America's deep south. They were very successful books.

His non-fiction, notably, The Muses are Heard, is about a musical tour of Leningrad. He followed this with a novella, the popular Breakfast at Tiffany's and three shorter popular tales: "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar" and "A Christmas Memory."

In Cold Blood, Capote's Masterpiece

At the age of 35, Truman Capote became fascinated by the real-life murder of a rich farming family in Kansas. He closely followed the arrest, trial, conviction and execution of the murderers – two drifters who had no real motive for the crime. In 1965, the killers were executed. Immediately, the following year, he published In Cold Blood.

In this book, Capote recreates, in great detail, the lives of all the people involved in the crime. He called it a "non-fiction novel," a mixing of fact and faction. At the time, this was a new kind of writing, and Capote claimed to have invented it. In Cold Blood is said to be his masterpiece. It became an international bestseller

Last Words on Truman Capote

Truman Capote was outstanding both in fiction and non-fiction. His works are acknowledged as literary classics. At 22, he won the O. Henry memorial with his debut novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms. He was also famous for the movies that were created from his screenplays.

He did not publish much in the final years of his life. During his lifetime, he became notorious for his drinking behavior and drug abuse that eventually lead to his early death at the age of 59, on August 25, 1984. His last novel, Answered Prayer, was left unfinished.

Major Books by Truman Capote

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