Knowles described Brooklyn Heights: A Personal Memoir as 'in best vein, it was really very special.' He also referred to the essay by a different title, 'A Neighborhood in Brooklyn.' John Knowles, an editor at Holiday who later became an acclaimed novelist in his own right, has said that the magazine 'asked me to get Truman for them,' and claimed that he recruited Capote for Holiday on the very same night that he recruited Jack Kerouac. The essay then gives evocative descriptions of Capote's favorite local haunts-everything from restaurants to antique stores to cat-filled alleyways-as well as various neighborhood characters, before ending with an ominous story about being threatened by a 'Cobra,' or gang member, near the East River. By choice.' Capote goes on to offer a short history of the neighborhood and how he came to live there, and to describe the house he lived in at the time, 70 Willow Street-which is where he wrote what many consider his two greatest works, Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood. The essay famously opens with the lines 'I live in Brooklyn. While it was eventually combined with the original photo illustrations by David Attie in a coffee table edition, and has been included in anthologies as well, it was first published in the February 1959 issue of the mid-century travel magazine Holiday. Magazine (1959), anthology (1995), print hardback (2002), photo book (2015)īrooklyn Heights: A Personal Memoir is an autobiographical essay by Truman Capote about his life in Brooklyn in the late 1950s. Brooklyn Heights: A Personal Memoir Author

Brooklyn heights