Truman Capote: Conversations (Literary Conversations) (Paperback)

by M. Thomas Inge (Editor) "The most discussed writer in New York literary circles today is a young novelist with the face and figure of a schoolboy..." (more)
Key Phrases: answered prayers than unanswered ones, homicidal mind, nonfiction novel, New York, Truman Capote, Other Voices (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Truman Capote once said, "The thing I like to do most in the whole world is talk ...," and talk he does in the more than two dozen interviews collected in this book. The topics are often gossip about the famous people Capote ran with, but always he provides revealing information about his writings--the authors who inspired him, his meticulous methods of research and composition, and his personal reverence for the craft of authorship. He was, as the editor notes, "fiercely devoted to his art, and keenly aware of his place in the world of letters."

While his detractors, such as Ernest Hemingway and Gore Vidal, spoke out long and loud against the feisty and media-minded writer from Louisiana, Capote here has the last word. What emerges is a portrait of the author as pop cult figure--unabashed in his pursuit of fame and fortune but unstinting in his devotion to becoming one of America's major prose stylists.

These interviews range from the first he granted after the publication of his first novel through his shockingly personal self-interview which appeared at the end of his last major work.

Product Details

• Paperback: 396 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (February 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878052755
• ISBN-13: 978-0878052752
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,269,771 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #48 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Capote, Truman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a collection of interviews with one of our great talkers, August 23, 1998

By	Lana A. Whited (Ferrum, Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Truman Capote: Conversations (Literary Conversations Series) (Hardcover)

Truman Capote once said that he loved talking more than anything else. Inge's book is a collection of interviews with the great talker himself, covering the period from 1948, when Capote burst on the literary scene with his first novel, "Other Voices, Other Rooms," to a 1980 self-interview from "Music for Chameleons." It includes the complete texts of George Plimpton's important "New York Times Book Review" interview upon the publication of Capote's masterpiece "In Cold Blood" and Eric Norden's lengthy 1968 "Playboy" interview, both involving Capote's claim to have invented a new literary form, the "nonfiction novel." These interviews make clear why we must sometimes take Capote with a grain of salt, and why we must take his work as seriously as he took it himself.

5.0 out of 5 stars Truman Capote Conversations, July 2, 2008

By	B. Dougherty (California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was very impressed with everything involved in the ordering, shipping, delivery and the product itself. My thanks and Kukos to everyone involved.