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Capote Charms ReddingAUTHOR SPEAKS — Major novelist Truman Capote expounded on the style and techniques he has used to become one of the most popular writers in America before a Shasta College “Distinguished Speakers” series crowd in the Redding Civic Auditorium Thursday evening.( Daily News photo By DAVE OLIVERIA (Daily News Staff W riter)REDDING - “I don’t care if the subject of a story is fiction or nonfiction.” the panda bear-built lecturer responded. “My real motive is style. The quality of the prose I write should look like a glass of water you would want to drink.”“I'm working towards a different concept and intention. My goal is how a story is written, not what it is written about.”Author Truman Capote had the vast audience in attendance at Thursday’s “Distinguished Speakers” series of Shasta College, held at the Redding Civic Auditorium, in an approving mood. He had captured it with a reading of his autobiographical short story, “A Christmas Memory,” and continued to seduce it with his jovial personality and quick wit in a question-and-answer period that followed the readingSome of his answers complemented his reputation for eccentricity. For example, he said he is most miserable when he is writing.“I hate writing,” he said. “If I could do anything else, I would.”However, earlier in the day he gauged his challenge to write against the premise, “I have to feel that if I didn’t write it, nobody else would. If it could be written by somebody else, it turns me off.”Capote has a long line of successes in the field of literature dating back to his first published magazine article at age 17. He has never had a rejection slip. Among his milestones are the novels, “In Cold Blood,” the story of the 1959 murder of the Clutter family in Kansas, and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” which was later adapted for the screen. He also has produced the plays “Grass Harp” and “House of Flowers”, but doesn’t like working in the theater due to the vast expense and the fact that “people get nervous about their investment.”“I don’t like to collaborate,” he said. “I want to work by myself. That way I accept all the blame or I get all the credit.”Capote has earned a reputation for his frankness and his lack of humility. In the first category, he said that most of the best movie actors he had known — including Sir Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando — are not particularly in-
Newspaper Details
Red Bluff Daily News
Red Bluff, California, US
Tue, Oct 07, 1975
Page 1
Full Page
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Los A.
CA, USA 26 Feb 2025
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Red Bluff Daily News
