Lost Friendships: A Memoir of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and Others

Drawing on his journals, novelist Windham ( Two People, etc.) describes his relationships with Capote and Williams (""the one person I loved to whom I didn't have a physical attachment''), their addiction to alcohol, jealousy and untruth, their deterioration as writers and as human beings. The inspiration for Capote's writing, he states, was not experience but reading, and as time went on, instead of writing, he ``talked about the writing he was going to do.'' He was ``always engaged in fantasy and web-spinning,'' and ``his frail respect for the distinction between the truth and invention became even frailer.'' At a certain point, Williams, too, ``ceased to be able to distinguish between truth and untruth.'' Like other recent books on these two unhappy writers, Windham's memoir is a depressing account of wasted lives and talents. Photos not seen by PW. (February 25)