The finale of Feud: Capote vs the Swans has finally aired. With the episode's release, we can't help but wonder what happened to Capote's Answered Prayers manuscript and whether the novel was ever completed. Here's what we know.
Spoiler Warning: This article includes spoilers for Feud: Capote vs the Swans episode 8: Phantasm Forgiveness, so proceed with caution.
What is Truman Capote's Answered Prayers Book About?
Truman Capote first signed a contract with Random House in 1966 for his Answered Prayers book. The original contract included a $25,000 advance for the famed writer so he could deliver the book by January 1, 1968.
Unfortunately, Capote did not meet the 1968 deadline. Despite this, Capote worked on other things that got published in 1968. This included a TV script and a short story.
But he continued to talk about his Answered Prayers book in his appearances on talk shows.
By 1969, there was still no Answered Prayers manuscript. This led Random House to renegotiate with the writer for a three-book deal by September 1973. The new deal came with a $750,000 advance. But again, this was not met.
The delivery date was extended to January 1974 and to September 1977. In early 1980, he earned a new agreement where he would be paid $1 million if he could submit the much-awaited manuscript by March 1, 1981. The deadline was never met.
Answered Prayers was supposed to be Capote's tale of various classes. The writer claimed that he would write about his experiences, as well as the female socialites of the era and the scandals they hid.
In his 1980 collection, Music for Chameleons, Capote detailed his writing process for Answered Prayers by writing the book in chapters. He wrote:
"I went on in this manner, writing different chapters out of sequence. I was able to do this only because the plot—or rather plots—was true, and all the characters were real... I hadn't invented anything…"
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What Happened to Capote's Answered Prayers Manuscript?
Based on what Capote wrote on Music for Chameleons, it can be assumed that he stopped working on Answered Prayers in September 1977. It is said that he suffered a nervous breakdown during this time, which hindered him from focusing on the manuscript.
This was depicted well in Feud: Capote vs the Swans episode 8 when Capote had visions of his deceased mother and spoke to her in his kitchen. There was also a scene where Capote was visited by another friend who committed suicide, Ann Woodward. Only, this was all in his mind.
After his death in 1984, Capote's stenographic journals were never found. Capote biographer, Gerald Clarke, claimed that he saw four chapters from the Answered Prayers manuscript in 1975.
But as Clarke shared, only Mojave and the infamous La Cote Basque were in publishable condition during that time. The other two chapters, Unspoiled Monsters and Kate McCloud, managed to be published in 1976. This was a time when Capote's personal life was in shambles.
In 1987, Random House collected the three chapters published in Esquire. They were published as Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel.
In the December 2012 Vanity Fair issue, one of Capote's missing chapters, yachts and Things, was published. It was found among the writer's papers in the New York Public Library's Manuscripts and Archives Division.
Joseph Fox, one of Capote's friends, theorized that Capote "deliberately destroyed" his manuscript in the early 1980s, during his sobriety period.
This was depicted in the finale of Feud: Capote vs the Swans.
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