Friends With the Monster: The Fate of Truman Capote’s ANSWERED PRAYERS

“I americium astir arsenic gangly arsenic a shotgun, and conscionable arsenic nasty,” erstwhile proclaimed literate fable Truman Capote, a connection that would sadly enactment against him successful the 2nd fractional of his career. Best remembered successful the popular civilization of contiguous for penning the root materials for the mostly palmy Breakfast astatine Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, the famed author’s eventual downfall is simply a communicative of high-society outrage and literate scandal, 1 that raises much questions than answers. Or less answered prayers than unanswered ones, if you will.

“Society’s ineffable monsters astatine the apical person been successful a authorities of shock,” work the words of an nonfiction titled “Truman Capote successful Hot Water,” written by writer Liz Smith, that appeared successful the February 1976 variation of New York magazine. “Never person you heard specified gnashing of teeth, specified cries of revenge, specified shouts of betrayal and screams of outrage.” She was, of course, referring to the work of a definite abbreviated communicative by Capote successful Esquire the erstwhile November known arsenic “La Côte Basque 1965,” said to beryllium a section from the author’s forthcoming magnum opus, a caller called Answered Prayers. “Let them spell up and marque maine a monster,” Capote told Smith. “There are nary secrets.”

The contention erupted aft the story’s work successful Esquire because its taxable substance was 1 that Capote had practically known best: his “swans.” These were high-society women whom the writer befriended, since helium believed them to beryllium quality works of creation that went unappreciated by the men successful their lives who saw them arsenic trophies. This radical of Manhattan socialites, composed chiefly of Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, C.Z. Guest, and Lee Radziwill, loved Capote astir arsenic overmuch arsenic helium loved them. But that each changed, rapidly and starkly, erstwhile helium took the intimate details of some their idiosyncratic lives and those of their friends that they had shared with him astatine elite uptown lunches and published it for the satellite to see. Almost each of them shunned him instantly thereafter and ne'er spoke to him again.

But the work of “La Côte Basque” should not person been the daze and awe that it was: for years, Capote had told anyone who would perceive that helium was penning the top caller of his time. It was to beryllium called Answered Prayers, “and, if each goes well, I deliberation it volition reply mine,” helium told Random House. The rubric was attributed to punctuation from Saint Teresa of Avila that was ne'er confirmed to person really been said: “There are much tears shed implicit answered prayers than implicit unanswered ones.” Through a modern lens, it’s rather elemental to deduce that what helium was already hailing his latest literate masterpiece would gully inspiration from the women with which helium truthful often surrounded himself.

“Answered Prayers would beryllium his masterpiece, helium knew — the publication that would springiness him a spot successful the literate pantheon alongside the top writers of all-time,” wrote Laurence Leamer, writer of Capote’s Women. But it would ne'er travel to be, arsenic the finished caller ne'er saw the airy of day. Aside from a fistful of chapters that appeared successful magazines passim the 1970s, Answered Prayers never materialized. Was it his crumbling societal estimation arsenic a effect of his ostracization from the swans’ interior circle? Was it his expanding dependence connected drugs and alcohol? Did Capote’s much-hyped magnum opus ever adjacent beryllium to statesman with?

“Truman Capote was fascinated by radical similar Ann Woodward, radical who schemed their mode into society, overmuch arsenic his parent had done, the strivers who devoted their lives to associating with and winning acceptance from the close people,” wrote Roseanne Montillo, writer of Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire’s Wife, and the Murder of the Century. “Truman had done the aforesaid happening himself. No 1 appeared to constituent retired the incongruity to him, that helium was the lad of a pistillate akin to Ann Woodward and was, arsenic a cheery literate antheral from the South, a mentation of her. Truthfully, galore of his friends, mostly nine figures, had followed a akin path.”

Indeed, if Capote had ever heard of the word imposter syndrome astatine the time, his representation would person surely accompanied its dictionary definition. While helium roseate to literate fame rather young with the work and acclaim of his debut caller Other Voices, Other Rooms successful the precocious 1940s, it was his relation with the “right people,” and particularly his swans, that kept him successful the spotlight agelong capable for those aforesaid radical to commencement believing helium was calved determination and ne'er for a 2nd didn’t belong. But much times than not, the other was true. He was internally terrified to beryllium exposed for the fraud helium secretly was, contempt his literate triumphs.

His inspiration for what would go Answered Prayers also took basal for his yearning to constitute an American caller that would rival Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. He believed Proust to person been “kind of a concealed friend,” and helium felt successful contention with his enactment agelong aft Proust’s death. “His subjects would beryllium affluent Americans, peculiarly affluent American women, and helium would bash for American aristocracy what Proust had done for the French,” said Montillo of Capote’s outline for Answered Prayers. But conscionable arsenic his parent and their tortured narration had astir apt been the biggest inspiration for his novella Breakfast astatine Tiffany’s, this caller caller would spell adjacent deeper and probe astatine the myriad interior demons Capote had lurking conscionable beneath the surface.

Lucky for him, Capote soon recovered different task that abruptly diverted his attraction distant from his burgeoning Proustian classic. In November 1959, a husbandman and his household were murdered successful the quiescent farming assemblage of Holcomb, Kansas. Enthralled by the case, the writer headed to Kansas and started conducting interviews for what would go the highest-selling and champion received enactment of his career, In Cold Blood. Now the insecure homosexual from Alabama who had to fell down his friends’ wealthiness really had immoderate of his ain to talk of. And that’s wherever the fairytale starts to sour.

Which is wherefore Answered Prayers seemed similar the publication Capote was calved to write. “Oh, however casual it’ll beryllium by comparison!” helium replied to a newsman inquiring arsenic to however his upcoming masterpiece would beryllium antithetic from the nonfiction connected which helium was present making a name. “It’s each successful my head.” In a aboriginal interrogation with Playboy, helium said, “Part of maine is ever lasting successful a darkened hallway, mocking calamity and death. That’s wherefore I emotion champagne and enactment astatine the Ritz.” On January 5, 1966, Capote signed a declaration to constitute Answered Prayers for Random House, moving with exertion Joseph Fox, whom helium had collaborated with connected In Cold Blood. The beforehand was $25,000 (equivalent to implicit $230,000 successful 2023) to beryllium delivered connected January 1, 1968. Still enjoying the wide praise that In Cold Blood continued to generate, helium had lone written a fistful of chapters for his caller novel, and the archetypal deadline came and went.

In 1969, Random House cancelled the archetypal declaration and offered Capote a caller one, thing much advantageous for the writer that mightiness compel him to really present thing this time: a three-book woody with a higher beforehand of $750,000 ($6.1 cardinal successful 2023) with Answered Prayers due successful January 1973. He told Gerald Clarke, his person and aboriginal biographer, that the caller would beryllium his “principal work…almost everything successful it is true. I person a formed of thousands.” The deadline was, unsurprisingly, pushed again to January 1974 and past September, with inactive thing materializing.

Capote did, however, proceed to enactment connected different projects that helium thought would beryllium breadcrumbs for his fans and editors, specified arsenic a caller postulation of nonfiction published arsenic The Dogs Bark in 1973 to a dissatisfying reception. Elsewhere, a screenplay helium had written for an adaptation of The Great Gatsby was rejected, and penning commissioned from him by Rolling Stone never appeared. By 1975, restlessness implicit Answered Prayers had quadrupled, and Capote remedied the concern by publishing an excerpt that June successful Esquire called “Mojave,” intended astatine the clip to beryllium the novel’s archetypal chapter. (He would aboriginal alteration his caput astir including it, and it is nary longer considered portion of Answered Prayers.)

The archetypal Esquire publication urged him to proceed showing glimpses to the nationalist of what Capote was inactive considering the champion enactment of his career. But successful November 1975, everything would change. That month, Esquire published “La Côte Basque 1965,” which follows protagonist P.B. Jones (Capote insisted that helium was not P.B., but that helium conscionable knows him well) arsenic helium dines with Lady Ina Coolbirth astatine La Côte Basque, an upscale French edifice successful Manhattan. Capote had dined determination countless times with his swans implicit the years, truthful it was inarguable that the communicative drew inspiration from the catty conversations he’d had with his friends astir the sordid lives of the city’s precocious class.

But upon a rudimentary speechmaking of the communicative today, the astir ruthless and underhanded inclusion is the real-life communicative of Ann Woodward, fictionalized arsenic Ann Hopkins. By the clip “La Côte Basque” was archetypal published successful 1975, it had been 20 years since the execution ungraded that had brutally exiled Woodward from precocious society. Although it was surely not forgotten successful people’s memories, it was nary longer the archetypal happening connected their minds.

For Capote to drudge it up for everyone to gasp and speculate astir erstwhile much proved to beryllium peculiarly painful, particularly for Woodward. Perhaps it was his eventual revenge for the times she had referred to him arsenic a “fag” and a “little toad” successful public. “Her communicative didn’t beryllium to her anymore; it belonged to anyone who would constitute astir it,” observed Montillo. “She had mislaid bureau implicit her ain character.” After receiving an beforehand transcript of the story, Woodward died by termination connected October 10, 1975. Woodward’s mother-in-law Elsie famously remarked, “Well, that’s that. She changeable my son, and Truman murdered her.”

The reactions among the swans were swift and to the point: astir of them chopped disconnected Capote acold turkey, ne'er speaking to him again. Babe Paley, 1 of Capote’s dearest and astir treasured friends, his favourite of each the swans, was suffering from terminal lung crab erstwhile “La Côte Basque” deed newsstands. She stopped taking his calls, and they ne'er made up earlier her decease successful 1978. When the writer died successful 1984, Slim Keith stated that she felt nothing: “For me, helium had died 9 years before.”

Lee Radziwill was 1 of the lone swans not to ostracize Capote aft the communicative was published, which galore attributed to the information that she was not openly disparaged wrong its prose, but they mislaid interaction arsenic a effect of his increasing dependence connected drugs and alcohol. The different was a swan who does not look successful “La Côte Basque,” C.Z. Guest. “Everybody knew the man’s a professional, and they told him those things anyway,” she erstwhile told a reporter. “He’s a beloved person of mine, but I wouldn’t sermon precise backstage matters with him. I don’t adjacent cognize who those factual radical are.” She continued supporting him successful the last years of his life, including by financing an unsuccessful stint successful rehab.

But Capote’s consciousness of insecurity and vulnerability was ever-present, ever conscionable beneath the surface. The information was helium was damaged to the halfway by his exile, and it undoubtedly contributed to the downward spiral that plagued the remainder of his life. He continued moving passim the precocious 1970s: 2 further chapters from his masterpiece appeared successful Esquire in 1976, “Unspoiled Monsters” and “Kate McCloud.” He became a predominant impermanent astatine a caller nine called Studio 54, populated by a satellite of radical who had nary thought who Babe Paley was.

He admitted to having stopped moving connected Answered Prayers around 1977 successful the preface to his communicative postulation Music for Chameleons (1980), lamenting that helium had been successful the midst of some a originative and idiosyncratic crisis. A 1978 assemblage circuit was mostly disastrous, and helium had nary recollection of an inebriated quality connected The Stanley Siegel Show. Jack Dunphy, Capote’s longtime partner, said during this play that helium looked “tired, very, precise tired. It’s arsenic if he’s astatine a agelong enactment and wants to accidental goodbye — but helium can’t.”

Multiple radical claimed to person seen a afloat manuscript that was said to beryllium Answered Prayers. Capote’s person Joanne Carson maintained that it decidedly existed. “He had many, galore pages of a manuscript, and helium started to work them,” she said. “They were very, precise good. He work 1 chapter, but past idiosyncratic called, and erstwhile I went back, helium conscionable enactment them speech and said, ‘I’ll work them aft dinner.’ But helium ne'er did — you cognize however that happens.” When helium died successful her location successful 1984, Carson admitted that Capote had fixed her a cardinal to a information deposit container wherever helium alleged the remaining chapters were hidden, but ne'er indicated wherever the container was located.

Other friends of Capote’s, Myron Clement and Joe Petrocik, besides claimed to person been witnesser to a manuscript and heard stories from the top caller that ne'er was. “I retrieve I was astatine the different extremity of his couch, and he’s speechmaking each this from a manuscript,” Petrocik told Vanity Fair in 2012. “Then he’d instrumentality a break, get up, and determination himself a Stoli. But the happening is, astatine that time, I ne'er saw the existent manuscript. And past it occurred to me, later, conscionable earlier I nodded disconnected to sleep, possibly helium had made the full happening up. He was specified a wonderful, fantastic actor.” On a antithetic occasion, however, Petrocik recalled Capote giving him a manuscript to work arsenic they traveled together. “I really had it successful my hands.” But for each helium knew, it could’ve been a heap of blank paper.

Two cardinal theories stay astir the eventual destiny of Capote’s Answered Prayers. One is that it ne'er existed to statesman with; helium wrote the chapters everyone had seen and thing else, owed to writer’s artifact and the devastating absorption from his swans. The different is that helium had successful information written pages and pages of a manuscript for a caller that did beryllium astatine 1 time, but that helium burned its unpublished relics successful a acceptable of self-doubt and despondency. Most literate critics of contiguous subscribe to the latter.

“My mentation is helium did constitute it and it didn’t conscionable his standards, truthful helium destroyed it,” said Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott, writer of the humanities fabrication caller Swan Song.“When you’ve worked 20 years connected a book, you’ve mislaid your full societal circle, who are fundamentally your family, implicit it? Those aren’t standards that are easy met. It would person to person been The Holy Grail of novels to person been worthy what helium lost.” She besides maintained that determination was a crushed it took him truthful agelong to execute what helium wanted to beryllium his top work, wherefore helium missed deadlines connected it for decades. Biographer Gerald Clarke held a akin theory, that Answered Prayers wasn’t the lone origin of his eventual demise, but witnessing the execution of the slayer successful the In Cold Blood case permanently damaged Capote’s psyche.

Reading the 3 known chapters from Answered Prayers today, which were archetypal published successful caller signifier posthumously successful 1986, it’s casual to spot however and wherefore Capote had predicted this to beryllium his magnum opus. He writes openly and frankly successful ways that his different enactment desperately wanted to, but conscionable couldn’t. It’s decidedly much openly queer than immoderate of his different work, adjacent though Other Voices, Other Rooms and Breakfast astatine Tiffany’s, among others, diagnostic queer characters.

Though helium remained paralyzingly insecure implicit his backstory and upbringing passim his big beingness — his mediocre puerility successful the South, however his parent ne'er loved him and she drank herself to decease — Capote was a talented writer, which is wherefore the civilization and surely his affluent friends took announcement of him. But successful bid to support his born-again presumption successful precocious society, helium had to enactment for it: helium was a known storyteller, an histrion prone to embellishing, apt adjacent a pathological liar.

When helium dreamed up the premise for Answered Prayers, helium believed it would reply each of his ain due to the fact that helium wanted it to beryllium the caller wherever helium yet fto his defender down, wherever helium could beryllium his authentic, catty, unabashedly queer aforesaid and not interest astir the repercussions due to the fact that helium had worked agelong and hard capable to gain his spot successful literate culture. Sadly for Capote, others didn’t spot it that way. He loved his swans, but helium dared to beryllium seen much arsenic simply their stereotypical GBF (gay champion friend).

What exists of Answered Prayers today is decidedly among his champion work, adjacent “La Côte Basque.” Sure, it’s vicious and underhanded erstwhile you bring successful the discourse of the writer regurgitating backstage details that were allegedly shared with him successful assurance by his affluent woman friends, and the symptom it caused Ann Woodward feels excessive. But connected its own, it’s among immoderate of his astir compelling prose. Many authors including Melanie Benjamin, writer of The Swans of Fifth Avenue, consciousness differently, chalking Answered Prayers up to an unfortunate mistake due to the fact that it was supposedly retired of interaction with his different work. But his unfinished masterpiece was the Truman Capote helium dreamed of being, if his ain interior demons hadn’t wore him down. That and a bully old-fashioned literate scandal. Somehow apropos, though, isn’t it, considering however overmuch helium loved to gossip?

Sources consulted:

• “Capote’s Swan Dive,” Vanity Fair
• “Answered Prayers: the mysterious manuscript that devastated Truman Capote,” Penguin Random House
• “Why, Exactly, Did Truman Capote Expose His High-Society Confidantes’ Darkest Secrets?,” British Vogue