I recently read Too Brief a Treat, the letters of Truman Capote. While I didn't enjoy this collection merely as much as Willa Cather's short stories, they were still entertaining and of course provided some insight into one of my favorite authors. Capote addressed his friends with pet names, often contained gossip, and usually involved his asking his friends to keep writing him wherever he was (Italy, Switzerland, New York, Kansas, etc.). Some of my favorite quotes are as follows. The last quote was in reference to William Goyen, a Texan writer most famous for The House of Breath (which I recently reviewed on this blog). Capote was an early supporter of Goyen, but when Goyen wrote some less than flattering words about one of Capote's works, he was no longer a fiercely appreciated friend, but a foe to which Capote said good riddance. He fiercely adored his friends and abhorred his enemies, never one to be moderate in his opinions!
"Currently
am waging war against two little girls down the road. They are driving
me out of my mind. Why do children always think that I am a child
too? I'd like to crack their little heads together."
"Not,
I must say, that you've been dazzling correspondents, any of you:
many's the night I've trudged down to the post-office, then trudged
back empty-handed - thinking, a fine lot they are, whirling from one gay
event to another, never giving a thought to poor Truman: far off there
on a windswept hill with nothing but the sound of the sea to cheer him
up. Oh chilluns, it do get mighty powerful lonesome here."
"What a psychopath."
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