Truman Capote

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The short stories of Truman Capote are connected to his childhood experiences in Alabama. Truman capote was an American born writer who wrote non- fiction, short stories, novels and plays. All of his literary works have been perceived as literary classics. The tones of some of his stories are slightly gothic. His most famous short story is Children on Their Birthdays.

His work shows the occasional over writing, the twilit Gothic subject matter, and the masochistic uses of horror traditional in the fiction of the boy author ever since the eighteen-year-old Lewis wrote his Monk 150 years ago. But Capote has, in addition, an ability to

control tone, an honest tenderness toward those of his characters he can understand (children and psychotics), and a splendid sense of humor-seldom remarked upon. (Fielder www.wikipedia.org)

Truman Capote was born on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His whole name was Truman Streckfus Persons. At the time of his birth his mother, 17 year old, Lillie Mae Faulk was in a troubling relationship with his father, Archulus Persons. Unfortunately their relationship ended four years later. At this point of Truman's life his family can only be described as dysfunctional.

After his parents were divorced Truman was sent to live with his aunt's house in Monroeville, Alabama. Truman's love of writing began at a very young age. At the age of ten he won a children's writing contest for his short story, "Old Mr. Busybody". In 1933, Truman moved to New York City to live with his mother and his stepfather, Joseph Garcia Capote. There he was adopted by Joseph and took Capote as his last name.

In 1939, Capote and his family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, where he attended Greenwich High School. Grow...

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...are the settings and the characters. The settings are all similar in the way that they take place in Alabama. These holiday remembrances recall Capote's childhood in depression-era Alabama, where Capote lived with distant relatives. The stories pay tribute to Capote's childhood friend, his eccentric older cousin Sook Faulk (www.teenreads.com).

In conclusion, Truman Capote's short stories are connected to the his childhood experiences in Alabama.

Work Cited

Bloom, Harold. "Truman Capote" The Chelesea House Library of Literary Criticism, 1986, II, 453-465.

Price, Reynolds, ed. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. New York, New York: Random House, 2004.

"Truman Capote." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 10 November 2006. 14 November 2006.

Truman Capote: The Grass Harp and A Tree of Night and Other Stories. New York, NY: Random House, 1980.

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