Beschreibung:

A 14-page manuscript written in black ballpoint ink on August 24, 1984, housed in a bound spiral notebook, being a fragment of an essay entitled "Remembering Willa Cather." Knowing that he was very ill, Capote flew from New York to Los Angeles the Thursday before he died to spend time with his close friend Joanne Carson. On Friday morning the two friends got up, had breakfast, and began talking about their upcoming birthdays. Truman asked Joanne what she would like for her birthday, and she answered, “Truman, I just want you to write. If you’re writing, I’m happy.” Truman then offered to write something just for her. He borrowed a pen and a spiral notebook, took a seat outside by the pool, and began writing. He wrote all day, stopping only for lunch. The resulting work is the essay fragment offered here, a short memoir entitled “Remembering Willa Cather” that describes Capote’s first meeting with the writer at the New York Society Library, and a dinner engagement with Cather and her partner the following week. Capote opens the story by musing on his own family history and the circumstances that led him to the New York Society Library one snowy day in the 1940s. He describes meeting a kindly older lady in the library, then, as they both were leaving, trying unsuccessfully to hail her a cab. As he instead walks her home, she suggests they stop at Longchamps restaurant. In part: “She said, ‘I could use a cup of tea. Could you?’ I said yes. But once we were settled at a table, I ordered a double martini. She laughed and asked if I was old enough to drink. / Whereupon I told her all about myself. My age. The fact I was born in New Orleans, and that I was an aspiring writer. / Really? What writers did I admire? (Obviously she was not a New Yorker; she had a western accent)... The incomplete essay continues with dialogue and ends with Capote arriving at Miss Cather’s house for dinner. Though this piece is unfinished, Capote relayed versions of this story during his lifetime. 11 x 8 1/2in