Issue:

№17 2024

УДК / UDK: 821.111(73).0
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2024-17-222-232

EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/EJZMIS

Author: Alyona P. Khokhlova
About the author:

Alyona P. Khokhlova, independent researcher, Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1423-0387

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Abstract:

The article is devoted to the history of Truman Capote’s children’s poem “Can a Pig Fly”. Truman Capote is well-known as an author for the adult audience; however few readers are aware of the unpublished and the only known Capote’s children work written for the Random House “Beginner Books” easy-to-read series. The series was inspired by success of Theodor Geisel (also known as Doctor Seuss) children’s books. American educational circles of 1950s were under the influence of step-by-step vocabulary expansion of preschoolers and firstgraders. Hence Random House set up severe limitation for vocabulary used by new series writers. Several best-selling adult authors tried but couldn’t come up with anything worthy because they had to stick to a 100 Word List. Capote wrote several manuscripts, and “Can a Pig Fly” is the only almost finished manuscript left. American artist Hillary Knight, well-known by that time due to his works for Eloise series of books by Kay Thompson, made beautiful artworks for this unpublished picture book about the flying pig.

Keywords: children’s literature, Truman Capote, Bennett Cerf, “Can a Pig Fly?”, Random House, Doctor Seuss, Hillary Knight, Harper Lee.
For citation:

Khohkhlova, Alyona. “Is Truman Capote a Children’s Writer?” Literature of the Americas, no. 17 (2024): 222–232. https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2024-17-222-232  

References:

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Moates 1989 — Moates, Marianne M. A Bridge of Childhood. Truman Capote’s Southern Years. New York: Henry Holt, 1989.

Morgan & Morgan 1995 — Morgan, Judith, and Neil Morgan. Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel. New York: Random House, 1995.

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