Truman Capote | Guy Portman's Blog

My Year in Novellas

Dec 12 2014

A novella is a fictional, prose narrative that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Novellas are generally about 20,000 – 50,000 words.

These are my Top 5 novellas that I have read this year:

5. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha is a concise and philosophical novella with a graceful prose style that incorporates both Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. This story about destiny had a cathartic effect on this reader.

My Review: Siddhartha, a Brahmin’s son, finding village life increasingly unrewarding, leaves his family and sets off on a spiritual journey with best friend and devotee Govinda. Travelling as Samanas, they survive on donations and from begging … (More)

4. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis is a bleak and unsettling story about a man who turns into a beetle. It utilises dark humour and explores existentialist, nihilist themes. In this reader’s opinion The Metamorphosis is a good introduction to Kafka’s writing.

My Review: …protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a beetle. This awkward situation is exacerbated when Gregor’s boss turns up at his house seeking an explanation for his non-attendance at work that day… (More)

3. The Legend of the Holy Drinker by Joseph Roth

This is a compact, concise, compassionate and profound novella about a tramp who lives under the bridges of the river Seine in Paris. The Austrian-Jewish author and journalist Joseph Roth is one of my favourite non-English language writers.

My Review: Set in Paris between the wars the story is about an alcoholic tramp by the name of Andreas, who lives under bridges of the river Seine. Andreas finds himself in luck when he is given two hundred francs by a stranger, … (More)

2. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Truman Capote’s masterful ability to develop character is on full display in this compelling and at times humorous tale about an independent young society figure with a past shrouded in secrecy.

My Review: Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a novella set in New York in the 1940s about a young woman called Holly Golighty. The story follows Holly’s ambiguous relationship with a nameless narrator, whom we are told almost nothing about, apart from that he is a writer... (More)

1. The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

This is a carefully constructed and evocative novella written in Hemingway’s trademark simple, concise, economy of prose style. It is the most memorable novella I have read this year, and I look forward to reading more Hemingway.

My Review: Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba, this is a tale about an old man, a boy and a colossal Marlin. The old man, Santiago, is a veteran fisherman, who is on a run of bad luck having been eighty-four days without catching a fish. (More)

10 Authors Bizarre Writing Habits

Oct 17 2014

Authors writing habits never cease to fascinate me. This week’s blog post is dedicated to 10 famous authors bizarre writing habits.

Flannery O’Connor – Author and essayist Flannery O’Connor explained in The Habit of Being (collection of her letters) that she not only wrote at the same time every day, but also in the same place. That special place was facing her blank wood dresser, which provided no distractions. O’Connor only wrote for about two hours a day because as she suffered from lupus she had very little energy.

Demosthenes – This ancient Greek statesman had to constantly write speeches for his numerous public speaking appearances. When he felt unmotivated to do so he would shave one side of his head, the result being that as he was reluctant to leave the house until the hair grew back, he would spend the time writing.

Eudora Welty – This iconic author and Mississippi resident admitted in a letter to a friend, William Maxwell, that she had the peculiar habit of pinning her stories together in a long strip. The stories would get so long that she would have to stack them on beds and tables.

Maya Angelou – This African-American author had a very strict writing routine that entailed leaving her home at 7 a.m. and travelling to a bare hotel room, where she would write until about 2 p.m. The only possessions Angelou would bring with her were a pack of cards, a Bible and a bottle of sherry.

Victor Hugo – This French novelist wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables in the nude. The reason being that it helped him avoid procrastination. Hugo, unable to leave the house unclothed, would order his valet to hide his clothes until after he had finished his writing.

Honoré de Balzac – This French novelist and playwright maintained a relentless writing routine. He would go to bed at 6 p.m. and rise at 1 a.m. before writing for seven hours. At 8 a.m. he would rest for ninety-minutes and then write until 4 p.m. De Balzac allegedly drunk 50 cups of coffee a day.

Dan Brown – Best selling contemporary author Dan Brown is an early riser, who apparently takes a break every hour from his writing to do calisthenics (stretches, sit-ups and pull-ups etc.). His bizarre writing antics do not end there. Brown, a fan of inversion therapy, often hangs upside down in antigravity boots because it helps him relax.

Truman Capote – Capote had a preference for writing lying down. While he wrote he would drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. As the day progressed he would drink mint tea, before moving on to sherry and martinis. Capote, who described himself as a ‘horizontal writer’, always wrote his first two drafts in longhand with a pencil.

Vladimir Nabokov – Nabokov had a fixation on index cards. The majority of his novels were written out on these cards with a pencil. The cards were then paper-clipped and kept in boxes. Nabokov’s rather particular writing routine did not end here. Most of his writing was done standing up.

Francine Prose – Blue Angel author Francine Prose confessed that she likes writing in her husband’s ‘red and black checked flannel pajama pants and a T-shirt.’ Prose usually writes at her desk, which faces a window, with a view consisting of a brick wall. Though the view may not be ascetically pleasing, Prose likes it because it is not distracting.

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Alcoholic Authors IV

Nov 01 2013

Here is part four of my Alcoholic Authors series.

Truman Capote

(September 30th 1924 – August 25th 1984)

Notable works: In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Born Truman Streckfus Persons, Capote went on to become a prolific writer of short stories, novels, plays and nonfiction, whose accomplishments include at least twenty films and television dramas having been produced from his works.

Capote, who had a turbulent upbringing marred by divorce, long absences from his mother and periods of poor health started writing at a young age. By his late teens he had achieved considerable success and with the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) and the true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966) international renown.

The author was a notorious heavy drinker. While writing In Cold Blood, Capote would allegedly have a double martini before lunch, another with lunch and a stinger after. On numerous occasions he sought help in various clinics, including Silver Hill in Connecticut, after being arrested for drink driving in Long Island. However he was to never kick his addiction, dying aged fifty-nine from liver cancer.

Capote once famously said, ‘I drink,’ …. ‘because it’s the only time I can stand it.’

Charles Bukowski

(August 16th 1920 – March 9th 1994)

Notable works: Post Office, Factotum, Pulp.

The German born Bukowski was a novelist, poet, short-story writer and columnist, who was described by Time in 1986 as a ‘laureate of American lowlife.’ His writing included the acclaimed novel Post Office, a semi-autobiographical account of Bukowski’s hand-to-mouth years existence whilst employed in a menial job at the post office and Pulp, a humorous and vulgar parody of the detective/mystery genre. The author’s writing was heavily influenced by his home city of Los Angeles.

Bukowski started drinking at aged thirteen and never looked back. A prodigious smoker and bar frequenter, he was a controversial figure renowned for his bravado. In later years the author preferred to drink at home, more often than not whiskey being his beverage of choice. Though by his own admission he suffered three hundred hang-overs a year, Bukowski never quit the habit. Despite this extraordinary excess he lived to the relatively old age of seventy-three.

Bukowski once said, ‘Alcohol is probably one of the greatest things to arrive upon the earth – alongside of me.’

Click on the links to read my reviews of Post Office and Pulp.

If you missed it here is Part III of my Alcoholic Authors series.

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My Year in Novellas

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10 Authors Bizarre Writing Habits

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Alcoholic Authors IV

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