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Truman Capote had a widely varied career. While many American
authors stayed mainly within one or (at most) two literary forms,
Capote felt limited by no such restraints. From short stories to
novella, from screenplays to dramatic plays, he wrote a little bit of
everything (except poetry) and was successful in all of them. He
even created a new form with his non-fiction novel (or documentary
novel), In Cold Blood. In the beginning of his career, however, it was his skill writing short stories that began to attract the attention of notable people within the literary world. |
| At the age of seventeen, Capote
ended his formal schooling. He found work at The New Yorker, where he attracted
attention with his eccentric style of dress. Between 1943 and 1946, Capote wrote a continual flow of short fiction, including "A Mink of One's Own," "Miriam," "My Side of the Matter," "Preacher's Legend," "Shut a Final Door" (for which he won the O. Henry Award at the age of 19) and "The Walls Are Cold." These stories were published in both literary quarterlies and well-known magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, Harper's Magazine, Mademoiselle, The New Yorker, Prairie Schooner and Story. In June 1945, Mademoiselle published his short story "Miriam" which won Best First-Published Story in 1946. In the spring of 1946, Capote was accepted at Yaddo, the 400-acre (1.6 km2) artists and writers colony at Saratoga Springs, New York. "Miriam" attracted the attention of publisher Bennett Cerf, resulting in a contract with Random House to write a novel. With an advance of $1,500, Capote returned to Monroeville and began Other Voices, Other Rooms, continuing to work on the manuscript in New Orleans, Louisiana, Saratoga Springs and North Carolina, eventually completing it in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Capote described the symbolic tale as "a poetic explosion in highly suppressed emotion."During this time Capote had already established his fame among the cultural circles as the thin voiced, promising young writer, who could brighten up parties with his sharp and clever remarks. |
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