In 1971, already one of the most acclaimed and successful American writers, Truman Capote was on The Dick Cavett Show, where he talked about the book he was writing and which would eventually become his last. Anticipating the future, he called the book a “posthumous novel” and that “either I will kill it or it will kill me”. Almost prophetic words. Answered Prayers was published with only four chapters completed by him during his lifetime, the review and release came later.

Truman Capote, actually born Truman Streckfus Persons, was the writer who “created” the non-fiction genre, or literary journalism, which retells real stories without being a biography. His most famous book is In Cold Blood but he also signed classics such as Breakfast at Tyfanny’s which was adapted for the cinema.

Mordant and succinct in his text, Capote was a celebrity, but after reaching his peak in 1966, he began to have “writer’s block” and problems with alcoholism and drugs. He died in 1984, aged 59, from liver cancer. There’s the whole story involving his ashes, but that’s for another post. The writer’s last days were full of drama and precisely because of Answered Prayers and this will be the theme of the second season of the series Feud, by Ryan Murphy.

Feud, an English term used for dispute/fight, has explored the rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis and the behind-the-scenes of the film What Happened to Baby Jane?, in the 1960s. For the showrunner, the theme of the series is not about the fight itself, but the pain generated by it.

Answered Prayers fits in because it’s about the disagreement between Truman Capote and his socialite friends, whom he called “swans” and who were “his source of inspiration.” The novel was fully published in 1986, but some chapters were shared by magazines beforehand p, in 1975, and it soon became clear who was who on the pages. The suicide of one of them, retaliation, and breakup were some of the consequences.

According to the writer, the outline of the book was first made in 1958, with the final title, but the main characters were a manipulative bisexual southern gigolo and his unhappy lover, and the proposal would be along the lines of a Proustian novel. The title, in fact, was taken from an alleged statement credited to Saint Teresa of Ávila, the 16th-century Carmelite nun, who said “More tears are shed for answered prayers than for unanswered prayers”.

Halfway through, came In Cold Blood and Capote’s involvement with one of the murderers, which accelerated his process of self-destruction. At this point, the theme became about the mixing of social classes in situations “inspired” by his experiences as best friend and confidant of the most prominent female socialites of the time and their husbands. The heroine, Kate McCloud is a character clearly inspired by Mona von Bismarck, one of the swans.

The swans… That’s what Truman called his rich friends: Gloria Vanderbilt, Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Lee Radziwill, and Mona Williams (later, Von Bismarck). He went to restaurants and famous places with them with direct access to their gossip and secrets. He spared nothing. In those years before reality shows, books and magazines were the sources of subject matter. “All literature is gossip,” Truman said in an interview with Playboy magazine. “What, on God’s green earth, is Anna Karenina, or War and Peace, or Madame Bovary, if not gossip?”, he provoked. The fact is that, by creating the “non-fiction” genre, he started the problem that we still witness today: in addition to invading people’s privacy, by ‘inventing’ stories he confused what is fiction or not. In his case, many consider him to have committed social suicide.

Perhaps in anticipation he was able to write the novel. The drama, which will be in Capote vs Swans, began when he sold four chapters (Mojave, La Cote Basque, Unspoiled Monsters, and Kate McCloud) to Esquire Magazine. Mojave was the first to be published in the edition with little fanfare. Perhaps he was relieved, but months later, the publication of La Cote Basque in November 1975 caused a stir. That’s because there was an uproar of shock and anger among Capote’s friends and acquaintances that his friends recognized characters based on themselves and those who knew them, too. Nobody liked what they read. Many defined the book as “an atomic bomb”.

The two chapters depicted the dysfunctional personal lives of the author’s circle, including CBS chief William S. Paley, his wife Babe, who was terminally ill with cancer, as well as Gloria Vanderbilt (mother of CNN reporter Anderson Cooper). who was portrayed as futile. Happy Rockefeller, and Ann Woodward were also recognized.

In the case of the Paleys, with even scatological details, he exposed William’s extramarital affairs, humiliating Babe, the friend he held in the highest esteem and who described in his diaries that “she only had one defect: she was perfect; otherwise she was perfect.” Almost on the verge of death, Babe had her heart broken by Capote’s betrayal. But it was worse with Ann Woodward.

Many claim that Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tyffany’s was partially inspired by Ann, described as a former call girl (in both books). To make matters worse, she had ‘accidentally’ shot and killed her ex-husband. In Answered Prayers, Capote describes the situation as premeditated. The real crime, which had been hushed up 20 years prior, resurfaced with the book. When a few days before the publication of the chapter Ann Woodward was found dead after swallowing poison, rumors that she had access to an advance copy became “fact”.

Be that as it may, after the publication of the chapters, there was a social “exodus” that literally banished Truman Capote from the circle to which he was accustomed. His friends turned their backs and stopped talking to him. The writer became further addicted to drugs and drinks, without being able to progress through the book. His mantra among his new friends on the subject was “What did they expect? I’m a writer and I use everything. Did all those people think I was just there to entertain them?”

Still, apparently, he felt he had hurt Babe. She died without speaking to him again and when Truman died, already weak, she would have talked about his mother and also whispered “Beautiful Babe” and “Answered Prayers”. His last official words.

The series Feud: Capote versus The Swans will explore all these behind-the-scenes stories, using Laurence Leamer‘s best-seller, The Women in Capote, as a basis. In it, Leamer tells the story of how Capote became friends with Barbara “Babe” Paley, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, Slim Hayward, Pamela Churchill, C. Z. Guest, and Lee Radziwill, betraying them all for a romance he left unfinished. Tom Hollander will play Truman Capote, Naomi Watts will play Babe Paley, Chloë Sevigny will play C.Z. Guest, Demi Moore will play Ann Woodward, Diane Lane will play Nancy “Slim” Keith, and Calista Flockhart will play Lee Radziwill. In addition to them, Molly Ringwald will play Joanne Carson, Johnny Carson’s ex-wife, who was with Capote at the time of his death. Feud also marks the farewell of Treat Williams, who played William Paley. The actor died in a motorcycle accident shortly after finishing his work. Feud: Capote versus The Swans has Emmy written all over it. Unmissable.

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