Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Capote, Truman (Vol. 19) - Eric Bentley

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ERIC BENTLEY

It is true that the arboreal fable of The Grass Harp is meant to symbolize an escape from humdrum reality, that Mr. Capote's real theme is the search for one's real self, and that such a theme is not to be stigmatized as trite merely because it is traditional. It has the effect of triteness in this play because it is in no way rendered active by Mr. Capote's art: when he has finished it still belongs to tradition, he has in no way made it his own. When his people speak we hear only other voices echoing in other rooms….

The triteness is in the conclusions and at the core; in the premises and at the periphery all is ridiculous…. On the level of wise-cracking Broadway farce … Mr. Capote reveals a surprising talent.

If only he would stay on that level! Instead he follows what seems to be the dominant contemporary "school" of theatre in pursuing the ridiculous high into the intense inane. (p. 22)

Mr. Capote has to use words,...

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1. Introduction
2. Carlos Baker
3. Leslie A. Fiedler
4. Virginia Bennett
5. Granville Hicks
6. Richard Hayes
7. Eric Bentley
8. Henry Hewes
9. Paul Darcy Boles
10. William Goyen
11. Gordon Merrick
12. John Hollowell
13. BENJAMIN DeMOTT
14. Stefan Kanfer
15. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
16. Helen S. Garson
17. Copyright

1. Truman Capote