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Комментарий к роману Трумена Капоте "Услышанные молитвы"
Спустя сорок лет после публикации романа о светской жизни имена плейбоев и дам из высшего общества мало что скажут современному читателю. Ведь сплетни – удовольствие сиюминутное. Кто эти люди, о которых так залихватски скабрезничает Трумен Капоте? Можно ли разобраться в многочисленных намеках и аллюзиях, когда ключи от потайных комнат с секретами богатых и знаменитых писатель унес с собой в могилу?
Комментарий к роману открывает возможность для более глубоко понимания одного из самых сложных произведений американской литературы. Вы узнаете подлинные имена людей, ставших прототипами героев скандальной книги, а также выясните, за что Капоте поквитался с друзьями, используя всю мощь своего писательского мастерства. Приведенное в книге краткое содержание потерянных глав, позволит оценить масштаб задуманного Труменом проекта.
Комментарий к роману открывает возможность для более глубоко понимания одного из самых сложных произведений американской литературы. Вы узнаете подлинные имена людей, ставших прототипами героев скандальной книги, а также выясните, за что Капоте поквитался с друзьями, используя всю мощь своего писательского мастерства. Приведенное в книге краткое содержание потерянных глав, позволит оценить масштаб задуманного Труменом проекта.
400 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 3, 2019
Russian readers, unlike everyone else, were more fortunate. They can now understand Truman Capote's magnum opus by virtue of the comments of Denis Zakharov. For many others, “Answered Prayers” is a strange work of vulgarity. An irresistible forest of names and concepts, like sticks in the wheels of the reader. And how to understand these secrets? A keyless novel
threatens to become a forgotten monument of the era, a book covered in a thick layer of dust. But not for the Russian reader!
Zakharov’s commentary is a ticket to the first class express to New York city. Leaving the train at the central station, everything will seem familiar, even if you had never been to Manhattan before. Here is the hostel of the Association of Young Christians, where the hero begins his story, and here is the address of the stylish apartment, where the grand lady of American letters Katherine Anne Porter lived (she is Alice Lee Langman in the novel), and here is the house on Fifth Avenue, where Capote dined with the incomparable Mona von Bismarck once (a prototype of Kate McCloud).
The commentary is a guide to the world of the rich and famous. This book is essential for understanding the “Answered Prayers”. Without a comment, reading a novel is simply pointless. Without knowing the context, it is impossible to understand either the plot or the author’s intention. In this sense, the epigraph, which precedes the commentary, is indicative. These prophetic words were spoken by Capote's friend, writer James A. Michener: «I can visualize graduate students as Harvard in the year 2060 getting their Ph.D.’s in literature be deciphering who Capote’s more salacious and infamous characters were and then assessing the justice of his comments. Like Toulouse-Lautrec, Capote will come to represent his period, and he will be treasured for the masterly was he epitomized it. But only if he can finish his work in high style, only if he incorporates enough leading or relevant figures, only if he masters his subject rather than allowing in to overwhelm him. I hear he’s drinking so much and into drugs so heavily that the chances of his making it are slim. What will he have left us then? Some fragments to be covered in footnotes. One hell of a lot of would-be-literature is compressed into footnotes».
These explanatory footnotes are the keys to Capote's unfinished novel, which the author himself probably threw into the ocean along with the rest of the manuscript. By the way, in the book you will also learn about the fate of the lost chapters, the history of the creation and publication of “Answered Prayers”. A nice bonus will be the comments on Truman Capote's three autobiographical stories: A Christmas memory, One Christmas, and the Thanksgiving Visitor.
It is only a pity that the circulation of this edition is only 300 copies and Russian language only. I am sure the commentary on the novel will soon become a bibliographic rarity and will be very expensive price. As it say, the book that you must have and must read to understand Capote well.
threatens to become a forgotten monument of the era, a book covered in a thick layer of dust. But not for the Russian reader!
Zakharov’s commentary is a ticket to the first class express to New York city. Leaving the train at the central station, everything will seem familiar, even if you had never been to Manhattan before. Here is the hostel of the Association of Young Christians, where the hero begins his story, and here is the address of the stylish apartment, where the grand lady of American letters Katherine Anne Porter lived (she is Alice Lee Langman in the novel), and here is the house on Fifth Avenue, where Capote dined with the incomparable Mona von Bismarck once (a prototype of Kate McCloud).
The commentary is a guide to the world of the rich and famous. This book is essential for understanding the “Answered Prayers”. Without a comment, reading a novel is simply pointless. Without knowing the context, it is impossible to understand either the plot or the author’s intention. In this sense, the epigraph, which precedes the commentary, is indicative. These prophetic words were spoken by Capote's friend, writer James A. Michener: «I can visualize graduate students as Harvard in the year 2060 getting their Ph.D.’s in literature be deciphering who Capote’s more salacious and infamous characters were and then assessing the justice of his comments. Like Toulouse-Lautrec, Capote will come to represent his period, and he will be treasured for the masterly was he epitomized it. But only if he can finish his work in high style, only if he incorporates enough leading or relevant figures, only if he masters his subject rather than allowing in to overwhelm him. I hear he’s drinking so much and into drugs so heavily that the chances of his making it are slim. What will he have left us then? Some fragments to be covered in footnotes. One hell of a lot of would-be-literature is compressed into footnotes».
These explanatory footnotes are the keys to Capote's unfinished novel, which the author himself probably threw into the ocean along with the rest of the manuscript. By the way, in the book you will also learn about the fate of the lost chapters, the history of the creation and publication of “Answered Prayers”. A nice bonus will be the comments on Truman Capote's three autobiographical stories: A Christmas memory, One Christmas, and the Thanksgiving Visitor.
It is only a pity that the circulation of this edition is only 300 copies and Russian language only. I am sure the commentary on the novel will soon become a bibliographic rarity and will be very expensive price. As it say, the book that you must have and must read to understand Capote well.
February 8, 2020
Delving into the dirtiest secrets of Manhattan's rich and powerful I realized Capote and I would have made best friends. #gossipgirl But to understand and appreciate "Answered Prayers" wouldn't be possible without this thorough commentary. It is nice to put faces on the disguised prototypes, to see the low of the high society. Sad that Capote ended up being ostracized by his friends after the parts of the novel were released. I feel like today his fate would be different. Today is all about the scandal. Truman, perhaps you lived in a wrong era.
November 19, 2020
It has been 40 years since the publication of Truman Capote’s "Answered Prayers”. The names of jet setters and socialites will most likely sound unfamiliar to the modern reader. After all, gossip is momentary pleasure. A commentary to “Answered Prayers” will help the reader to gain deeper understanding of one of the most complex works of American literature, reveal the real names of the novel’s prototypes and explain why Capote avenged himself upon his friends using the full force of his writing skill. The book is also complemented by a summary of the missing chapters to demonstrate the full scope of what Capote had in mind. The circulation is 300 copies only.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews