Deliberate Cruelty is about the rise and fall of Ann Woodward and Truman Capote, two prominent figures in New York society. Their paths occasionally crossed, and Capote was “deliberately cruel” in his writings of Ann.
Ann Woodward (née Evangeline Lucille Crowell; 1915 – 1975) grew up in poverty in Kansas, but she had big dreams. She changed her name and set off for New York, where she became a model, actress and nightclub dancer. It was as a nightclub dancer that she met William Woodward, Sr. They likely carried on an affair until the father introduced her to William Woodward, Jr. The son was smitten, possibly as an act of rebellion against his tight-laced and monied family.
When Ann and William, Jr., married, Ann became the socialite she had dreamed of becoming. Life was not all she expected, however. Soon William, Jr., tired of her and the two began having very public fights. One night in 1955, Ann shot and killed her husband, thinking that he was the prowler who had been breaking into homes in their posh neighborhood. Although Ann was ultimately not convicted of her husband’s killing (a cover-up by her in-laws to avoid a worse scandal?), she was shunned from her former society life.
Truman Capote (1924 – 1984), was also born into poverty and came from a dysfunctional family. He, too, had dreams of making it big. With the publication of In Cold Blood, he became a household name and a fixture in New York society. Capote became the confident of all the high society socialites, or swans as he called them. They spilled all their secrets to him. Capote imagined his next book, which would be called Answered Prayers, to be a fictionalized account of all the tales that his swans had revealed. The sordid scandal of the Woodward killing was red meat to Capote. He took to calling Ann Woodward Mrs. Bang Bang.
Capote’s downfall came with the publication and article entitled La Côte Basque, 1965, which was published in Esquire magazine. The story was a chapter from his incomplete novel Answered Prayers. La Côte Basque, 1965, was a thinly veiled portrayal of his swans. Once the story was published he was instantly cut off from high society, that had been so meaningful to him.
This was a fast and fun read.
Read: March 13, 2023
4 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment