The Early Stories of Truman Capote

The early fiction of one of the nation’s most celebrated writers, Truman Capote, as he takes his first bold steps into the canon of American literature

Recently discovered as manuscript pages in the archives of the New York Public Library, these short stories provide an unparalleled look at Truman Capote writing in his late teens and early twenties, before he penned such classics as Other Voices, Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and In Cold Blood. This collection of more than a dozen pieces showcases the young Capote developing the unique voice and sensibility that would make him one of the twentieth century’s most original writers.

Spare yet heartfelt, witty yet raw, these stories summon our compassion and feeling at every turn. Capote was always drawn to outsiders—women, children, African Americans, the poor—because he felt like one himself from a very early age. Here we see Capote’s powers of empathy developing as he depicts his characters struggling at the margins of their known worlds. A boy experiences the violence of adulthood when he pursues an escaped convict into the woods. Petty jealousies lead to a life-altering event for a popular girl at Miss Burke’s Academy for Young Ladies. In a time of extraordinary loss, a woman fights to save the life of a child who has her lover’s eyes.

In these stories Capote displays his genius for creating unforgettable characters built of complexity and yearning. Young women experience the joys and pains of new love. Urbane sophisticates are worn down by their own cynicism. Children and adults alike seek understanding in a treacherous world. There are tales of crimes and violence; of racism and injustice; of poverty and despair. And there are tales of generosity and tenderness; compassion and connection; wit and wonder. And there is the flourishing voice of a writer born in the Deep South who both breaks from and uses that literary tradition to become an author who captured the essence of New York City like no other.

With a Foreword by celebrated New Yorker critic Hilton Als, this volume of early stories is essential for understanding how Truman Capote became the legendary writer who has enthralled readers for more than sixty years.

Truman Capote was born in New Orleans on September 30, 1924. In 1948 his first novel,Other Voices, Other Rooms, was published to international critical acclaim, assuring Capote a place among the prominent postwar American writers. He won the O. Henry Memorial Short Story Prize twice and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. His other works include Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Grass Harp, and the nonfiction masterpiece In Cold Blood. He died on August 25, 1984.

Hilton Als is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His work also appears inThe New York Review of Books. He is the author of The Women and White Girls.