There has never been a book this anticipated before. 1966 was a ‘miracle year’ for us Truman Capote. In January, he signed the contract for what would become his final novel, his greatest work.‘Accepted prayers’ He promised to deliver it in two years. He promised a work of nonfiction that would depict existential emptiness against the backdrop of the world’s exquisite fauna. The ‘socialites’ of New York salons something the author knows firsthand. It would be a sort of ‘In Search of Lost Time’, updated and with the same literary ambition.
A few months later his masterpiece appeared: ‘Cold-blooded’, The initial take on what would later become known as New Journalism was that this reception would be a success that would have stunned all other writers, but this was not the case for the diminutive Capote, who had little fame for himself. A talented promotional strategist, the author’s photo appeared on every magazine cover and the book remained on the bestseller list and on everyone’s lips for 37 weeks.
Swans can be dangerous
Not content with this, he organized an organization in November of the same year, benefiting from the profits of that novel. The legendary black and white dance at the Plaza HotelThe culmination of her self-aggrandizement, which brought together the entire New York jet set, especially rich and idle women like her. Gloria Vanderbilt, Slim Ketih, Babe Paley or Jackie Kennedy’s sister Lee Radziwill, whom he called ‘swans’. However, he had forgotten that swans can be very beautiful animals, but they can be aggressive when they feel attacked. And if not, then.
The writer rising above the waves, increasingly satisfied with himself ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ He talked about his ‘prayers’ lots of interviews Although not poisonous, he was full of those witty and cutting remarks that so amused his rich friends that they laughed at him in exchange for being honest with him and telling him about their most secret and dark affinities between martini and martini.
But the book did not arrive. In 1968, Capote did not submit it to his editor, but that did not stop him from talking about the work to be published. praise of his prestige as a writer. “There is the grip, the trigger, the barrel and finally the bullet and when If that bullet is fired, it will come out with a force never seen before.” he predicted to a journalist. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, but not in the way he had imagined.
Maybe from St. Teresa
‘The Plegarias attended’ takes its title from a phrase allegedly attributed to St. Teresa: “More tears are shed over unanswered prayers.” The contract expired due to non-completion of the work in 1973. It went through various renovations until 1981., a date not met. The Random House publishing house had already paid Capote an advance of $250,000 and promised a million dollars on delivery.
In the middle of this process, the author made a decision that would do little to help the final evaluation of his book: Advancing parts of the novel in ‘Esquire’ magazine: ‘Mojave’ is a story piece that is integrated into the later ‘Music for Chameleons’, and in particular the ‘celebrities’ who adopt Capote as their confessor are betrayed by seeing the pain of ‘La Côte Basque’ in which they find themselves mercilessly reflected there. It was an earthquake. ‘A story’New York Times’ painted the author as a wild poodle baring his teeth at partygoers. The truth is that he bit the hand of those who fed him, ripped it off and turned it into minced meat.
One of those affected, Ann Woodward, who was deeply depressed, took a fatal overdose of pills when she revealed her story of being a prostitute. She was the lover of a gangster and possibly the perpetrator of the death of her last husband, an English lord, which was officially ruled an accident. “This disgusting tadpole isn’t coming back to my parties,” said another of the victims. Capote was expelled from Olympus.
Betrayals and rejections
The author responded with apparent indifference; He liked to remember this sentence: Marcel Proust: “There’s not much point in a great friendship in high society” – but his fragile mental health, also affected by a series of disastrous romantic relationships, suffered. Discussing the potential book that never materialized, he placed great demands on himself, leading to a creative crisis. And professional critics emphasized that the style of the resulting tracks was far from the promised masterpiece and that he was doomed to depression, alcoholism and pills. He continued talking about the book until 1977, then fell silent. Your editor, Joseph M. Fox, and the rest of his friends described how he had detailed the unpublished chapters so clearly that none of them doubted that the book had not been written.
Upon his death in 1984 When I’m about to turn 60 He appeared physically devastated by his addictions. The legendary manuscript of ‘Attended Prayers’ was searched among his papers but only previously published passages turned up. Mystery triggered theories: An abandoned lover could burn the work, it was hidden in a locker at the station, it was Capote himself who destroyed it. Most likely, the author realized that he would be defeated in his fight against Proust and did not write another line. What can be read today, the three chapters put together after his death in 1986, are the remnants of that dream.