Capote - Softcover

Clarke, Gerald

4.16

4,857 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345360788 ISBN 13: 9780345360786

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1989

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From instant celebrity at age 23 to overweight, alcoholic loner in his 50s, Truman Capote streaked across the middle of this century on a comet of genius, self-destruction, and fame. Drawing upon hundreds of hours of interviews with Capote and with nearly everyone who knew him, and with exclusive access to personal papers, Gerald Clarke has written the definitive biography of an incomparable man and his time.
"Extraordinary . . . Rich in intelligence and compassion . . . One can't put the book down. Few literary biographies in recent memory have been so vivid and absorbing." -- Bruce Bawer, The Wall Street Journal

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About the Author:

Gerald Clarke is the author of Capote: A Biography and Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland. He has also written for many publications, including The Atlantic, The New Republic, Rolling Stone, Architectural Digest, where he is a contributor; Time, where he was a senior writer; and Esquire. A graduate of Yale, he now lives in Bridgehampton, New York.

From Library Journal:

Clarke breaks Capote's life into four sections: a childhood spent mostly with relatives while his self-absorbed parents staggered through their disorderly lives; his years of discovery, when he had the two great romances of his life, traveled the world, and found his voice as a writer; the writing of In Cold Blood ; and the destructive obsessions with drugs, alcohol, and lovers that followed. Clarke's analysis tends to be superficial and his research, though impressive, has gaping holes. He is strongest in his portraits of Capote's first lover, the literary scholar Newton Arvin; the parade of men who disrupted the last 15 years of his life; and Capote's "swans," the very wealthy women who became addicted to his seemingly magic touch. Paradoxically, Clarke fails to produce a full portrait of Capote himself. The chaotic figure will need to be studied from many angles: Clarke provides a point of reference. Rob Schmieder, Boston
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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