“To me, the
greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that
words make.”
Truman Capote
(1924 - 1984)
Curious facts about
(1924 - 1984)
Curious facts about
“Capote” wasn’t his real last name. He was
born Truman Streckfus Persons, but "Capote" wasn’t a pen name—it came
from his stepfather, Joseph Capote, and his name was changed to “Truman Garcia
Capote” in 1935.
He taught himself how to read and write.
Truman was classified as a “lonely child,” and before he even entered formal
schooling, he used that loneliness (along with his obvious smarts) to teach
himself how to read and write. By 11, he was already writing his first short
stories.
He didn’t attend college. Capote’s schooling
was varied, but rich. After he and his mother moved to New York City from
Monroeville, Alabama, he attended a number of high-profile institutions,
including the Trinity School, St. Joseph Military Academy, Greenwich High
School, and the Franklin School (now called the Dwight School). While finishing
up his high school education, Capote worked as a copyboy for The New Yorker,
which served as his post-high school proving ground.
Capote was 5 feet 3 inches tall and openly
homosexual in a time when it was socially acceptable among artists, but rarely
talked about.
Capote was well known for his distinctive,
high-pitched voice and odd vocal mannerisms, his offbeat manner of dress and
his fabrications. He often claimed to intimately know people he had in fact
never met, such as Greta Garbo.