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Revisiting Capote

A few weeks ago, I watched the movie Capote, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. During the film, I had to keep reminding myself that it was not the real Truman Capote. The actor was so believable--he changed his voice, mannerisms and posture but didn't make it a caricature. My suspension of disbelief was out in the stratosphere.
My memories of Truman Capote were episodes of the Merv Griffin Show. In my mind's eye, I see Capote dressed in flowing scarfs and a swooping fedora.  When he spoke, his voice quality was very, very, very unique. I tried to figure out why he was a frequent guest of the other talk shows. His celebrity insider stories were way over my head. I was too young to have read any of his books or articles. I would wonder why everyone would hang onto his high pitched words? I just didn't get him. 
One thing I liked about him was the titles of his books, namely Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood. I marvelled at the memorable and dynamic names of these books. When I first heard of Breakfast at Tiffany's, I literally thought the high end jewelry shop had some sort of elegant restaurant tucked away. Then my parents told me that the main character Holly Golightly would take a danish or cruller in the mornings and eat it while looking longingly at the beautiful jewelry through the window. That knowledge made the title even more clever to me.
In Cold Blood was another riveting title, going the opposite end of the spectrum. This movie Capote covers the period of time when Truman Capote wrote this book.  Towards the end of the movie, Capote's publisher held a reading of the novel. Philip Seymour Hoffman read with a spot-on imitation. However, at this point in the movie, I was not caught up in the persona of Truman Capote, but focused on his craft. 
The first words of his book gently invited me into this time in history.  I settled in, and found myself hanging onto his every word. I finally got Truman Capote.
To me, writing is similar to cooking--we want our words to pop and sizzle like cooking with a wok, but want them to have substance like that of a slow cooker. Truman Capote is a master chef of literature as far as I'm concerned.
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