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A Tree of Night and Other Stories
In this collection of short stories the author of
In Cold Blood
explores worlds of fear and doubt: the menacing Deep South, the impenetrable private realms of childhood -- beautiful yet frightening.
The book features a total of eight short stories:
"Master Misery"
"Children on Their Birthdays"
"Shut a Final Door"
"Jug of Silver"
"Miriam"
"The Headless Hawk"
"My Side of the Matter"
"A Tree of Night"
The book features a total of eight short stories:
"Master Misery"
"Children on Their Birthdays"
"Shut a Final Door"
"Jug of Silver"
"Miriam"
"The Headless Hawk"
"My Side of the Matter"
"A Tree of Night"
209 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
36 people are currently reading
638 people want to read
About the author
Truman Capote
345 books7,252 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her new husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Mr. Capote adopted Truman, legally changing his last name to Capote and enrolling him in private school. After graduating from high school in 1942, Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into a circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversial because of the photograph of Capote used to promote the novel, posing seductively and gazing into the camera.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Capote remained prolific producing both fiction and non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a story about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, was published in 1966 in book form by Random House, became a worldwide success and brought Capote much praise from the literary community. After this success he published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at age 59.
Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her new husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Mr. Capote adopted Truman, legally changing his last name to Capote and enrolling him in private school. After graduating from high school in 1942, Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into a circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversial because of the photograph of Capote used to promote the novel, posing seductively and gazing into the camera.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Capote remained prolific producing both fiction and non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a story about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, was published in 1966 in book form by Random House, became a worldwide success and brought Capote much praise from the literary community. After this success he published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at age 59.
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August 25, 2025
UMILIAZIONE PREMEDITATA
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, Il primo Giorno del Ringraziamento 1621.
Thanksgiving è la festa americana che preferisco: cade nel quarto giovedì di novembre, non viene spostata per motivi commerciali o di praticità - è una specie di natale, famiglia e/o amici (ma niente scambi di regali), vicinanza, affetto, calore umano. La salsa di cranberry che mi piace, il tacchino che invece non mi è mai piaciuto, la torta di zucca con o senza la panna, le case addobbate e le tavole imbandite.
Bei ricordi.
Norman Rockwell
Scritto dopo A sangue freddo, che immagino avesse sfinito Capote per la durata e la fatica dell’impresa e il successo pazzesco, Il giorno del Ringraziamento fu pubblicato nel 1968, e sembra un tuffo nel passato, sembra ritornare sui passi delle opere del decennio precedente.
Penso innanzi tutto a L’arpa d’erba: le analogie di scrittura e trama fra questo racconto e quel romanzo breve sono tante.
Come lo sono con un altro racconto, Ricordo di Natale, sempre degli anni Cinquanta.
Tra l’altro, per restare in tema di analogie, i due racconti furono portati sullo schermo dal regista Frank Perry, entrambi con Geraldine Page protagonista, nel ruolo della parente matura, animo candido e saggezza senza tempo. E Geraldine Page, dopo The Beguiled, per me è un mito.
”The Thanksgiving Visitor” di Frank Perry (1967). Il bambino protagonista era Michael Kearney.
Il protagonista, che in entrambi i racconti si chiama Buddy, è un bambino che sembra sempre molto autobiografico, di età diversa, ma ugualmente sensibile e fragile, rimasto orfano, che finisce a vivere in casa di parenti anziani, dove si lega a Sook/Dolly, la zia di cui sopra. Questo vale sia per i racconti che per il romanzo.
L’ambientazione è sempre southern, rurale, provinciale, al tempo della Grande Depressione, grande povertà, grande solidarietà umana.
Il racconto inizia e finisce, come gli altri, con il narratore più adulto che introduce, e poi suggella, la storia legata all’infanzia.
Eccola: Geraldine Page nel film TV. Il racconto fu adattato per il piccolo schermo dallo stesso Capote e dalla moglie del regista, Eleanor Perry.
Anche questa volta Capote è capace di scrittura senza tempo, classica e moderna. Una composizione che evita le frasi brevi e sincopate, adotta periodi lunghi, ricchezza di virgole, che lasciano procedere senza interrompere, ma con tranquillità.
Questo vale anche per quello che può essere considerato il colpo di scena, che Capote sa rendere fluido, senza precipitazione.
Colpisce come l’anziana zia del narratore, anima rimasta quasi all’infanzia, non conosca il Male e forse proprio per questo riesce a disinnescarlo, a renderlo innocuo. La trovata di invitare il bullo persecutore e violento (silhouette dai capelli rossi piantata sulla soglia del mio buonumore che rimanda al verghiano Rosso Malpelo) al pranzo del giorno del ringraziamento è geniale e disarmante al contempo.
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, Il primo Giorno del Ringraziamento 1621.
Thanksgiving è la festa americana che preferisco: cade nel quarto giovedì di novembre, non viene spostata per motivi commerciali o di praticità - è una specie di natale, famiglia e/o amici (ma niente scambi di regali), vicinanza, affetto, calore umano. La salsa di cranberry che mi piace, il tacchino che invece non mi è mai piaciuto, la torta di zucca con o senza la panna, le case addobbate e le tavole imbandite.
Bei ricordi.
Norman Rockwell
Scritto dopo A sangue freddo, che immagino avesse sfinito Capote per la durata e la fatica dell’impresa e il successo pazzesco, Il giorno del Ringraziamento fu pubblicato nel 1968, e sembra un tuffo nel passato, sembra ritornare sui passi delle opere del decennio precedente.
Penso innanzi tutto a L’arpa d’erba: le analogie di scrittura e trama fra questo racconto e quel romanzo breve sono tante.
Come lo sono con un altro racconto, Ricordo di Natale, sempre degli anni Cinquanta.
Tra l’altro, per restare in tema di analogie, i due racconti furono portati sullo schermo dal regista Frank Perry, entrambi con Geraldine Page protagonista, nel ruolo della parente matura, animo candido e saggezza senza tempo. E Geraldine Page, dopo The Beguiled, per me è un mito.
”The Thanksgiving Visitor” di Frank Perry (1967). Il bambino protagonista era Michael Kearney.
Il protagonista, che in entrambi i racconti si chiama Buddy, è un bambino che sembra sempre molto autobiografico, di età diversa, ma ugualmente sensibile e fragile, rimasto orfano, che finisce a vivere in casa di parenti anziani, dove si lega a Sook/Dolly, la zia di cui sopra. Questo vale sia per i racconti che per il romanzo.
L’ambientazione è sempre southern, rurale, provinciale, al tempo della Grande Depressione, grande povertà, grande solidarietà umana.
Il racconto inizia e finisce, come gli altri, con il narratore più adulto che introduce, e poi suggella, la storia legata all’infanzia.
Eccola: Geraldine Page nel film TV. Il racconto fu adattato per il piccolo schermo dallo stesso Capote e dalla moglie del regista, Eleanor Perry.
Anche questa volta Capote è capace di scrittura senza tempo, classica e moderna. Una composizione che evita le frasi brevi e sincopate, adotta periodi lunghi, ricchezza di virgole, che lasciano procedere senza interrompere, ma con tranquillità.
Questo vale anche per quello che può essere considerato il colpo di scena, che Capote sa rendere fluido, senza precipitazione.
Colpisce come l’anziana zia del narratore, anima rimasta quasi all’infanzia, non conosca il Male e forse proprio per questo riesce a disinnescarlo, a renderlo innocuo. La trovata di invitare il bullo persecutore e violento (silhouette dai capelli rossi piantata sulla soglia del mio buonumore che rimanda al verghiano Rosso Malpelo) al pranzo del giorno del ringraziamento è geniale e disarmante al contempo.
March 4, 2020
The June 1945 issue of Mademoiselle Magazine included a short story written by twenty-year old Truman Capote. The title was Miriam and it was his first published work. The following year it was awarded an O.Henry prize in the Best First-Published Story category.
The story attracted the attention of Random House publisher Bennett Cerf, who offered Capote a contract to write a novel. The result was Capote’s first published book, Other Voices, Other Rooms, which was published in 1948. He was not yet twenty-five years old.
In the meantime, he had continued to write short stories which were published in both literary publications and well-known popular magazines.
A year after the publication of his novel, Random House published a collection of eight of his short stories that had been published originally between 1945 and 1949. The title of the collection was A Tree of Night and Other Stories.
The two best-known stories in the collection were the aforementioned Miriam and Shut a Final Door, originally published in 1947, and winner of the O.Henry prize the following year in the best short story category.
Some of the stories are set in the South while others take place in New York, but regardless of their setting all are in the southern gothic tradition.
For example, Children on Their Birthdays hooked me with its opening sentence: “Yesterday afternoon the six-o’clock bus ran over Miss Bobbit.” It didn’t take me long to read the rest of the story in order to find out how that happened to poor Miss Bobbit. In short order, I reached the last sentence: “That is when the six-o’clock bus ran over her.”
I leave to your imagination as to what transpired between those two sentences.
The southern writer Reynolds Price believes that undoubtedly Capote was familiar with contemporary southern writers and that he was probably influenced by Carson McCullers. That seems likely.
But as I read these stories, I couldn’t help recalling Sherwood Anderson’s linked stories of the lonely, despairing, and desperate people in his Winesburg, Ohio, published in 1919. Although Capote’s stories aren’t linked, they too are populated with “all those lonely people.”
-----------------------------------------------
"You can't blame a writer for what the characters say." -- Truman Capote
From The Tree of Night and Other Stories:
“...of all things this was the saddest, that life goes on: if one leaves one's lover, life should stop for him, and if one disappears from the world, then the world should stop, too: and it never did. And that was the real reason for most people getting up in the morning: not because it would matter but because it wouldn't.”
“I've been other things besides a clown. I have sold insurance, too.”
“It was like the time he'd failed algebra and felt so relieved, so free: failure was definite, a certainty, and there is always peace in certainties.”
“The police said for Oreilly to get to his feet.
"'Certainly,' Oreilly said, 'though I do think it shocking you have to trouble yourself with such petty crimes as mine when everywhere there are master thieves afoot.
"'For instance, this pretty child,' he stepped between the officers and pointed at Sylvia, 'she is the recent victim of a major theft; poor baby, she has had her soul stolen.'”
The story attracted the attention of Random House publisher Bennett Cerf, who offered Capote a contract to write a novel. The result was Capote’s first published book, Other Voices, Other Rooms, which was published in 1948. He was not yet twenty-five years old.
In the meantime, he had continued to write short stories which were published in both literary publications and well-known popular magazines.
A year after the publication of his novel, Random House published a collection of eight of his short stories that had been published originally between 1945 and 1949. The title of the collection was A Tree of Night and Other Stories.
The two best-known stories in the collection were the aforementioned Miriam and Shut a Final Door, originally published in 1947, and winner of the O.Henry prize the following year in the best short story category.
Some of the stories are set in the South while others take place in New York, but regardless of their setting all are in the southern gothic tradition.
For example, Children on Their Birthdays hooked me with its opening sentence: “Yesterday afternoon the six-o’clock bus ran over Miss Bobbit.” It didn’t take me long to read the rest of the story in order to find out how that happened to poor Miss Bobbit. In short order, I reached the last sentence: “That is when the six-o’clock bus ran over her.”
I leave to your imagination as to what transpired between those two sentences.
The southern writer Reynolds Price believes that undoubtedly Capote was familiar with contemporary southern writers and that he was probably influenced by Carson McCullers. That seems likely.
But as I read these stories, I couldn’t help recalling Sherwood Anderson’s linked stories of the lonely, despairing, and desperate people in his Winesburg, Ohio, published in 1919. Although Capote’s stories aren’t linked, they too are populated with “all those lonely people.”
-----------------------------------------------
"You can't blame a writer for what the characters say." -- Truman Capote
From The Tree of Night and Other Stories:
“...of all things this was the saddest, that life goes on: if one leaves one's lover, life should stop for him, and if one disappears from the world, then the world should stop, too: and it never did. And that was the real reason for most people getting up in the morning: not because it would matter but because it wouldn't.”
“I've been other things besides a clown. I have sold insurance, too.”
“It was like the time he'd failed algebra and felt so relieved, so free: failure was definite, a certainty, and there is always peace in certainties.”
“The police said for Oreilly to get to his feet.
"'Certainly,' Oreilly said, 'though I do think it shocking you have to trouble yourself with such petty crimes as mine when everywhere there are master thieves afoot.
"'For instance, this pretty child,' he stepped between the officers and pointed at Sylvia, 'she is the recent victim of a major theft; poor baby, she has had her soul stolen.'”
November 11, 2019
Initially, I was astounded at how good this early collection written by a young Capote is, though I shouldn’t have been, as I thought the same of his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms. But now that some time has passed (ten days), the stories with ‘surprise’ endings, such as “Miriam,” are the only ones I fully remember.
I also remember “My Side of the Matter,” because it was my least favorite. From its start I thought it was trying to be like Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.”, but it’s no “Why I Live at the P.O.” Capote’s humor in the former didn’t work for me, though several elements in other stories do work: the boy Appleseed in “A Jug of Silver”; the dark humor of “Children on Their Birthdays”; and the detailed dream of the main character in “The Headless Hawk.”
Speaking of Welty, I was reading The Wide Net and Other Stories at the same time as this, and I tried my best not to make comparisons. That was difficult because her stories are more substantive, and the aforementioned comparison I found inevitable.
I also remember “My Side of the Matter,” because it was my least favorite. From its start I thought it was trying to be like Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.”, but it’s no “Why I Live at the P.O.” Capote’s humor in the former didn’t work for me, though several elements in other stories do work: the boy Appleseed in “A Jug of Silver”; the dark humor of “Children on Their Birthdays”; and the detailed dream of the main character in “The Headless Hawk.”
Speaking of Welty, I was reading The Wide Net and Other Stories at the same time as this, and I tried my best not to make comparisons. That was difficult because her stories are more substantive, and the aforementioned comparison I found inevitable.
February 2, 2017
Otro libro de relatos que leo de Truman Capote. En mi opinión, es el más complejo; te dejan pensando un buen rato cada vez que terminas una historia. Algunos se me hicieron un poco pesados, entretenidos pero pesados. Otros me encantaron. El cuento Un Árbol de la Noche te transmite un clima de tensión hasta los huesos. Muy bueno.
En fin, buen libro de relatos de Capote.
En fin, buen libro de relatos de Capote.
August 14, 2020
A destacar Niños en su cumpleaños, Miriam y Un árbol de noche. Delicioso libro.
Read
July 27, 20161) "Harfa trave" (novela? kratak roman? tu negde) je vrlo pristojan sentimentalni južnjački gotik, iako južnjački gotik meni ne leži mnogo. Pripovetke variraju po vrednosti, a iznenadilo me je koliko ih spada u čist i uspešan horor.
2) Negde u nekom paralelnom univerzumu postoji kurs o književnim prevodima sa temom "procenite deceniju nastanka prevoda po tipu zastupljenih grešaka" i ovaj prevod je reprezentativni loš prevod za šezdesete :'(
2) Negde u nekom paralelnom univerzumu postoji kurs o književnim prevodima sa temom "procenite deceniju nastanka prevoda po tipu zastupljenih grešaka" i ovaj prevod je reprezentativni loš prevod za šezdesete :'(
February 5, 2017
Capote weaves a sinister being throughout these stories: the one he may have been warned about as a child, as in "if you're bad..." From the opening story (Master Misery-a man buys other people's dreams) to the closer (A Tree of Night-a young lady encounters malignancy during a train trip) there is a sense of warning, of avoiding certain people. "Shut a Final Door" may have two explanations: either a man shuts said final door to a life he might like to live but can't or perhaps he is the sinister man who Capote, barely out of childhood himself when he wrote these stories, shuts out of his own mind. A very unusual collection.
September 5, 2025
La maestría de Capote para escribir relatos cortos es innegable, una faceta totalmente diferente a sus otras obras.
Aunque esta antología en especial no es mi preferida, ya que tiene cuentos un tanto ambiguos, algunos de ellos me han gustado mucho, en especial las que tratan de infancias como las que cito a continuacion:
.Niños en su cumpleaños ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
.La botella de plata⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
.Miriam: que es particularmente tenebrosa, que explorar el lado oscuro de los cuentos de Capote.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aunque esta antología en especial no es mi preferida, ya que tiene cuentos un tanto ambiguos, algunos de ellos me han gustado mucho, en especial las que tratan de infancias como las que cito a continuacion:
.Niños en su cumpleaños ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
.La botella de plata⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
.Miriam: que es particularmente tenebrosa, que explorar el lado oscuro de los cuentos de Capote.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 22, 2020
No sé que tan válido es, a la hora de juzgar una obra, tener en cuenta por ejemplo, que sea la primera. Pero bueno, es que no se relaciona con el libro en sí, pero sabiendo que se publicó a sus veintitrés años, es sorprendente.
Lamento que el primer cuento sea el mejor por tan lejos porque deja la vara muy alta para lo que sigue.
Son buenas historias, entre conmovedoras, trágicas, de suspenso. Y muy bien escrito. Ya se notaba ese balance de lo que se dice y se omite para lograr ese ritmo tan digerible.
Y así como tan bien empieza, termina muy mal.
Mi visión del asunto, el último cuento, tiene un cierre muy malo, un clímax genial, una historia atrapante y una resolución ridícula.
Miriam y Maestro miseria son excelentes. Y La jarra de plata es otro punto muy alto, esos cuentos que uno ya sabe va a tocar releer pronto.
Lamento que el primer cuento sea el mejor por tan lejos porque deja la vara muy alta para lo que sigue.
Son buenas historias, entre conmovedoras, trágicas, de suspenso. Y muy bien escrito. Ya se notaba ese balance de lo que se dice y se omite para lograr ese ritmo tan digerible.
Y así como tan bien empieza, termina muy mal.
Mi visión del asunto, el último cuento, tiene un cierre muy malo, un clímax genial, una historia atrapante y una resolución ridícula.
Miriam y Maestro miseria son excelentes. Y La jarra de plata es otro punto muy alto, esos cuentos que uno ya sabe va a tocar releer pronto.
July 1, 2022
A Tree of Night includes 8 of Truman Capote’s early short stories, written and published from when he was 20 to 24!! His first published short story, Miriam, caught the attention of Random House, which led to his first book deal, which lead to a very successful career. Really loved most of these (Children on their Birthdays, Jug of Silver, The Headless Hawk, A Tree of Night), didn’t enjoy a couple (definitely not a fan of My Side of the Matter).
December 8, 2023
No hay nada más que decir leer a Truman es llenarse de aquella serenidad y sencillez con la que escribe. Tanto en pocas palabras. En esta recopilación de relatos, vemos al autor introduciendo un poco de suspenso y misterio a sucesos cotidianos que pueden volverse intrigantes y hacernos sentir aprehensivos durante toda la lectura.
February 3, 2017
Amazing book. Includes the most frightening story of all times, Miriam.
June 8, 2020
Southern gothic. Sinister atmospheres. Lonely uncertain people. Not my favorite genre.
August 26, 2020
Por coincidencia terminé este libro cuando se cumplen 36 años de la muerte de Truman Capote.
El libro se compone de 7 relatos que se encuentran entre las primeras publicaciones del autor. En general tocan temas como los temores y la infancia, a veces ambos, pero cada uno tiene el efecto de dejarte reflexionando sobre lo que acabes de leer.
Mis favoritos: Miriam, Un Árbol de la Noche y La Botella de Plata.
El libro se compone de 7 relatos que se encuentran entre las primeras publicaciones del autor. En general tocan temas como los temores y la infancia, a veces ambos, pero cada uno tiene el efecto de dejarte reflexionando sobre lo que acabes de leer.
Mis favoritos: Miriam, Un Árbol de la Noche y La Botella de Plata.
August 18, 2019
2.5
Profesor Miseria
Niños en su cumpleaños
Cierra la ultima puerta
La botella de plata
Miriam
El halcón decapitado
Mi versión del asunto
Un árbol de la noche
No sé si es porque no me han gustado ninguno de sus demás libros, pero este no me ha parecido tan malo.
Profesor Miseria
Niños en su cumpleaños
Cierra la ultima puerta
La botella de plata
Miriam
El halcón decapitado
Mi versión del asunto
Un árbol de la noche
No sé si es porque no me han gustado ninguno de sus demás libros, pero este no me ha parecido tan malo.
February 6, 2017
El problema del amor le preocupaba, sobretodo porque no lo consideraba un problema
A la hora de reseñar los libros de Truman Capote es natural caer en un montón de adjetivos, de superlativos, con todo y eso es "Un árbol de noche" mi libro favorito; puede ser porque lo que prefiero leer son cuentos y cuando un escritor logra condensar en pequeñas historias: Personajes memorables, atmósferas exactas y algo como sutiles cuchilladas al alma; entonces siento que estoy frente a un gran narrador y que tengo en las manos un libro para quedarse a vivir con él, para revisitar y esculcar sus diversos lenguajes.
Puede leerse este libro con la sensación de un árbol que va mutando con las temperaturas y las fechas, despojado y helado en el invierno de Profesor Miseria
El cielo estaba color de plata, hacía frío y el viento afilado era tan penetrante como la malvarrosa
Perfilado de luces, zarandeado por el viento y llenecito de los sonidos de la primavera en Niños en su cumpleaños
Era la hora de las luciérnagas, azul como un cristal opaco; los pájaros atravesaban el cielo en apretados arcos y se refugiaban en los pliegues de los árboles.
Vacío de hojas y triste y seco en el otoño de Cierra la última puerta
Nada es jamás lo que parece. Los árboles de Navidad son de celofán y la nieve de hojuelas de jabón. Dentro de nosotros revolotea algo llamado alma: “morir no es morir, vivir no es vivir”, ¿Y encima deseas saber si te amo? No seas tonto, Walter, ni siquiera somos amigos…
Tintineante de campanitas y pesado de copos de nieve e ilusiones en La botella de plata
Middy será toda una estrella de cine; las estrellas de cine ganan mucho dinero, nunca más volveremos a comer col verde
Alcanzado por el rayo del amor en un tormentoso Halcón decapitado
Vincent esperó, esperó. Las ventanas en derredor parecían puertas a los sueños.
Seco, reseco y casi crujiente en un cuento de verano que es para reír a carcajadas Mi versión del asunto
Esta parte de Alabama es espantosa, y los mosquitos son capaces de matar a un búfalo a la menor provocación, por no hablar de las peligrosas cucarachas voladoras y de la cuadrilla de ratas locales, tan grandes que podrían arrastrar a un vagón de tren de aquí a Timbuctu
Además de Miriam que es como un arbolito bonsai, y un Árbol de noche el último cuento y el que le da titulo al libro, que sería la imagen de un árbol entrevisto en la oscuridad de los profundos sueños.
December 26, 2021
I think I’ve said this before … but I love the way Truman Capote creates characters … like a skilled artist, layer after layer of fine brush strokes …
And in this collection of short stories, Capote does just that … there is Sylvia, so miserable upon moving to New York, selling her dreams to Mr. Revercomb in Master Misery …Miss Lily Jane Bobbitt, a confident young lady who longs for a career in movies and drives the local boys crazy in Children On Their Birthdays (such a wonderful twist at the end!) … Appleseed, a boy who insists he can count all the nickels and dimes in A Jug of Silver … and Miriam, a creepy little girl who literally drives Mrs. Miller crazy …
I’ve read several short story collections lately … I used to avoid them because I felt like just as I’m getting interested in the characters, the stories would just end … but now I am enjoying the thrill of meeting so many new characters at one time … and this short story collection does not disappoint…
And in this collection of short stories, Capote does just that … there is Sylvia, so miserable upon moving to New York, selling her dreams to Mr. Revercomb in Master Misery …Miss Lily Jane Bobbitt, a confident young lady who longs for a career in movies and drives the local boys crazy in Children On Their Birthdays (such a wonderful twist at the end!) … Appleseed, a boy who insists he can count all the nickels and dimes in A Jug of Silver … and Miriam, a creepy little girl who literally drives Mrs. Miller crazy …
I’ve read several short story collections lately … I used to avoid them because I felt like just as I’m getting interested in the characters, the stories would just end … but now I am enjoying the thrill of meeting so many new characters at one time … and this short story collection does not disappoint…
July 6, 2017
Ötekilerin üzerine yazılmış hikayeler, yalnızlığın girdabında savrulanların bastırılmış duygularına ayna tutuyor. Gece Ağacı, Bay kötülük, Para Dolu Damacana favori hikayelerim.
Hikayelerde herkesin kabusu olan şeyleri, distopya, olağan bir durummuş gibi ele alması, dile getirmesi, insanı biraz ürpertmiyor değil; yine de hikayelerin içine çekiliyorsunuz, belki de gerçeğin.
Hikayelerde herkesin kabusu olan şeyleri, distopya, olağan bir durummuş gibi ele alması, dile getirmesi, insanı biraz ürpertmiyor değil; yine de hikayelerin içine çekiliyorsunuz, belki de gerçeğin.
April 5, 2022
3 is probs a bit mean. The stories are very well written but kinda unpleasant.
February 1, 2017
Lindos, pero lindos cuentos de niños, amores, mujeres y ciudades. Algo oscuros.
Profesor miseria trata de llegar a la gran ciudad y caer tan bajo como para vender los sueños.
Niños en su cumpleaños es la historia de una niña adulta que vive con dignidad y elegancia en un pueblo polvoriento.
Cierra la última puerta la vida vista debajo de un ventilador de aspas de un hotel.
La botella de plata es la historia de AppleSeed, y nunca la olvidarás.
Miriam es la niñez que aparece en susurros y vibraciones a la hora de la vejez.
El halcón decapitado es el amor que te persigue en forma de chica rara, lo dejarías entrar?
Mi versión del asunto es uno de los mejores cuentos para leer voz y alta y reír a carcajadas.
Un árbol de noche es viajar en un tren y sentarse en la silla de los locos.
Truman Capote como cuentista también es un grande. Sin duda.
No sé lo que quiero, y tal vez nunca lo sepa, mi único deseo ante cada estrella será ver otra estrella.
Profesor miseria trata de llegar a la gran ciudad y caer tan bajo como para vender los sueños.
Niños en su cumpleaños es la historia de una niña adulta que vive con dignidad y elegancia en un pueblo polvoriento.
Cierra la última puerta la vida vista debajo de un ventilador de aspas de un hotel.
La botella de plata es la historia de AppleSeed, y nunca la olvidarás.
Miriam es la niñez que aparece en susurros y vibraciones a la hora de la vejez.
El halcón decapitado es el amor que te persigue en forma de chica rara, lo dejarías entrar?
Mi versión del asunto es uno de los mejores cuentos para leer voz y alta y reír a carcajadas.
Un árbol de noche es viajar en un tren y sentarse en la silla de los locos.
Se dio cuenta, con creciente exactitud, de que la experiencia es un circulo en el que ningún momento puede ser aislado ni olvidado.
Truman Capote como cuentista también es un grande. Sin duda.
March 12, 2022
Genial. La mejor narrativa de Capote, después de su bautismo de fuego con Otras voces, otros ámbitos. Los personajes de Capote suelen ser personas que viven solas y que de repente ven alterada su vida por un ser extraño que los introduce poco a poco en una atmósfera ajena y terrible; sus temas, la soledad, la amargura y el sentimiento de carencia o pérdida. Este volumen consta de ocho cuentos, la mayoría de corte misterioso o fantástico, como “Profesor Miseria”, “Un árbol de noche”, “Cierra la última puerta” o “Miriam”, en que los protagonistas caminan como en un sueño por el lindero de lo irreal. Otros cuentos son más ligeros, como “Niños en su cumpleaños”, divertido y sorprendente a pesar de un final tan trágico como absurdo, o el hilarante “Mi versión del asunto”. Mis favoritos, aunque cuesta elegir, son "Profesor Miseria", “El halcón decapitado” y “La botella de plata”. Es de lo mejor que he leído de este autor, verdaderamente formidable.
May 23, 2019
Pues bien!!, entre al mundo de Truman Capote, cautivador! ocho historias de escalofriante suspenso y que te conducen a tus propias pesadillas que alguna vez te despertaron en la tierna edad escolar. Magistral la historia de "Miriam", en la que se encuentra con su versión infantil sin poder evadirla. En "Un arbol de noche" hay que temblar al encontrarse con el tan nombrado "cuidado ahí viene el robachicos". La maravillosa y triste historia de la Srita Bobbit. La tierna y cruda historia de "Appleseed" y me preguntó: acaso podemos dormir sin soñar? o al paso del tiempo ya nos han robado los sueños? o pero aún los hemos vendido todos por tan poco a cambio.
February 5, 2017
Every character in this book, whether a child in a southern small town or a grown-up in New York city, is extremely lonely and doubtful about his/her existence. Mr Capote's writing is luxurious, fancy and delicate. But the not so good part is most characters in this book are very vague. You only know they are so lonely and unhappy, and you feel bad about them, you may even feel some similarities between yourself and the characters. But after you finish the book, you can't distinguish the one from this story to the one from the other.
August 7, 2021
A book of short stories by Truman Capote.
The stories are well written but for me fall short of some of his excellent other works. Well worth reading but there are better books by this author.
The book features a total of eight short stories:
In this collection of short stories the author of In Cold Blood explores worlds of fear and doubt: the menacing Deep South, the impenetrable private realms of childhood
"Master Misery"
"Children on Their Birthdays"
"Shut a Final Door"
"Jug of Silver"
"Miriam"
"The Headless Hawk"
"My Side of the Matter"
"A Tree of Night"
The stories are well written but for me fall short of some of his excellent other works. Well worth reading but there are better books by this author.
The book features a total of eight short stories:
In this collection of short stories the author of In Cold Blood explores worlds of fear and doubt: the menacing Deep South, the impenetrable private realms of childhood
"Master Misery"
"Children on Their Birthdays"
"Shut a Final Door"
"Jug of Silver"
"Miriam"
"The Headless Hawk"
"My Side of the Matter"
"A Tree of Night"
February 2, 2017
En esta serie de relatos el joven Truman Capote demuestra ya su precoz talento para crear historias basadas en una forma sencilla y en un fondo que retrata la condición humana. Se trata de una recopilación irregular con obras maestras como el relato que da título al libro o "Maestro miseria" y otras flojísimas como "El halcón decapitado" o "Miriam". Un libro de relatos que sirve para abrir el apetito a sus obras más importantes.
February 10, 2017
カポーティは2冊目。
初めての短編集だったけど、どれも面白かったです。
前半の5編は、現実と夢の狭間におけるファンタジーみたいな感じ。
後半の4編は、ファンタジーではないフィクション。
どれもちょっと暗く重い感じなんだけど、読後感はけっこうさっぱり。
読んでよかったなーと余韻に浸りたい話ばかりだった。
やっぱりこの重圧感は、カポーティの幼少時代が繁栄されてるんだな、と解説に書いてあったことに納得。
私が一番好きなのは『銀の壜』
クリスマス時期にピッタリの心温まる話でよかった。
そしてキャラクターとして印象深いのは、
『誕生日の子どもたち』に出てくるミス•ボビット。
その他にも、いろんな人物が出てくるので飽きずに読めた。
初めての短編集だったけど、どれも面白かったです。
前半の5編は、現実と夢の狭間におけるファンタジーみたいな感じ。
後半の4編は、ファンタジーではないフィクション。
どれもちょっと暗く重い感じなんだけど、読後感はけっこうさっぱり。
読んでよかったなーと余韻に浸りたい話ばかりだった。
やっぱりこの重圧感は、カポーティの幼少時代が繁栄されてるんだな、と解説に書いてあったことに納得。
私が一番好きなのは『銀の壜』
クリスマス時期にピッタリの心温まる話でよかった。
そしてキャラクターとして印象深いのは、
『誕生日の子どもたち』に出てくるミス•ボビット。
その他にも、いろんな人物が出てくるので飽きずに読めた。
May 3, 2018
Ένα βιβλίο που διάβασα στις πρώτες τάξεις του δημοτικού (τι με έπιασε με τα παλιά;) Ακόμα το θυμάμαι.
December 10, 2019
Tras la lectura de “Desayuno en Tiffany’s”, no esperaba algo bueno de Truman Capote: fascinado por “A sangre fría”, ese otro volumen no me dejó gran sabor de boca. Recientemente leí “Un árbol de noche”, el segundo libro publicado de este autor. Así, sin muchas expectativas, comencé la lectura. Y no saben qué maravilla descubrí.
En apenas ocho cuentos Capote despliega un fascinante abanico de personajes: desde una dama que “vende” sus sueños hasta una universitaria que descubre a una intrigante pareja que vive de montar un espectáculo circense en el cual el marido es enterrado vivo, pasando por una carismática y extrovertida niña que llega a un arcaico pueblo, una viejita que ve con horror cómo una infante que conoció en la calle invade su vivienda (que remitirá a muchos al cuento “Casa tomada”, de Cortázar) o una joven y menesterosa pintora perseguida por un hombre que nadie conoce. Además, se nota la mano del traductor, Juan Villoro: un escritor y conocedor de nuestro idioma como él le imprimió redoblados fuerza y temple a la prosa de Capote. Un libro que en verdad disfruté.
Efectivamente, Capote es “un maestro de la aprensión y de la zona fronteriza entre la normalidad y la neurosis”, como aseveró “The Washington Post”, y este libro “te sumerge en un estado de curiosidad hechizada acerca del desenlace” y “de fascinación ante las invenciones del autor”, como se señaló en “The Atlantic”.
Lo único que me resta es volver a leer “Desayuno…”; seguro que la incompetencia en mi apreciación fue lo que me dejó tan desilusionado.
En apenas ocho cuentos Capote despliega un fascinante abanico de personajes: desde una dama que “vende” sus sueños hasta una universitaria que descubre a una intrigante pareja que vive de montar un espectáculo circense en el cual el marido es enterrado vivo, pasando por una carismática y extrovertida niña que llega a un arcaico pueblo, una viejita que ve con horror cómo una infante que conoció en la calle invade su vivienda (que remitirá a muchos al cuento “Casa tomada”, de Cortázar) o una joven y menesterosa pintora perseguida por un hombre que nadie conoce. Además, se nota la mano del traductor, Juan Villoro: un escritor y conocedor de nuestro idioma como él le imprimió redoblados fuerza y temple a la prosa de Capote. Un libro que en verdad disfruté.
Efectivamente, Capote es “un maestro de la aprensión y de la zona fronteriza entre la normalidad y la neurosis”, como aseveró “The Washington Post”, y este libro “te sumerge en un estado de curiosidad hechizada acerca del desenlace” y “de fascinación ante las invenciones del autor”, como se señaló en “The Atlantic”.
Lo único que me resta es volver a leer “Desayuno…”; seguro que la incompetencia en mi apreciación fue lo que me dejó tan desilusionado.
September 12, 2023
another Capote story I enjoyed reading.
In contrast to "Miriam", here the text has noticeably matured, detailed descriptions of events, surroundings, and appearance have been added. It is more interesting to read, the world is depicted more clearly, more expressively.
But again I was missing something. Whether it's translation problems or I'm quite picky, I can't call this story a masterpiece. It is interesting to read, it is interesting to exist in their world. Maybe this is enough for someone, but not for me.
In contrast to "Miriam", here the text has noticeably matured, detailed descriptions of events, surroundings, and appearance have been added. It is more interesting to read, the world is depicted more clearly, more expressively.
But again I was missing something. Whether it's translation problems or I'm quite picky, I can't call this story a masterpiece. It is interesting to read, it is interesting to exist in their world. Maybe this is enough for someone, but not for me.
Want to read
September 28, 2019#6
A headless figure in a monklike robe reclined complacently on top a tacky vaudeville trunk; in one hand she held a fuming blue candle, in the other a miniature gold cage, and her severed head lay bleeding at her feet [...]
#8
A coughing spasm seized her, but when it was over she appeared calmer. 'Has my boy friend been entertaining?' she asked, patting her bosom reverently. 'Ah, he's so sweet.' She looked as if she might pass out. Kay rather wished she would.
A headless figure in a monklike robe reclined complacently on top a tacky vaudeville trunk; in one hand she held a fuming blue candle, in the other a miniature gold cage, and her severed head lay bleeding at her feet [...]
#8
A coughing spasm seized her, but when it was over she appeared calmer. 'Has my boy friend been entertaining?' she asked, patting her bosom reverently. 'Ah, he's so sweet.' She looked as if she might pass out. Kay rather wished she would.
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