--- title: Truman Capote Other Voices Other Rooms Homosexuality Letter description: The author was unafraid of being frank about his sexuality, but it made TIME uncomfortable in 1948 canonical: https://time.com/3445150/truman-capote/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-30T11:00:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:27:59.763Z article:section: History og:title: Truman Capote Other Voices Other Rooms Homosexuality Letter og:description: The author was ahead of the mainstream in being open about his sexuality. TIME Magazine, not so much. og:url: https://time.com/3445150/truman-capote/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae509e764d9a16a/6986a5fa3bc99912ff1a597c/capote.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Truman Capote With His Dog og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Truman Capote Other Voices Other Rooms Homosexuality Letter twitter:description: The author was ahead of the mainstream in being open about his sexuality. TIME Magazine, not so much. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae509e764d9a16a/6986a5fa3bc99912ff1a597c/capote.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read a Stunningly Frank 1948 TIME Letter On Truman Capote and Sexuality  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 30, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  Truman Capote with his dog in 1950 Truman Capote with his dog in 1950Mondadori / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 30, 2014 11:00 AM UTC When _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ author Truman Capote died in 1984, TIME’s obituary remarked that he was famous “for his lyrical, funny and gothic” writing, and for being “as much a member of the glitterati as the literati.” When his posthumously published _Answered Prayers_ came out in 1987, the magazine wrote that he had been “on his way to a spectacular best seller, an irresistible piece of malicious mischief.” But this magazine wasn’t always so kind to Capote, who would have celebrated his 90th birthday this Sept. 30. When _Other Voices Other Rooms_, the novel that made his name, was published in 1948, the review was skeptical of the publishing-world brouhaha that had surrounded its release, and somewhat harsh to its author. He was probably “safe from smothering in laurels,” wrote TIME’s critic, because the book was merely “a literary contrivance of unusual polish.” And the critic didn’t stop at that. The following letter, which shines a light on the magazine’s practices of the era, appeared in the Feb. 16, 1948, issue in response to that review: --- > “” --- The editor’s response? “It gives TIME the creeps. — ED.” The tone of that snarky retort, and of the review itself, has faded into history, as has that attitude toward homosexuality. TIME’s Letters section is now generally snark-free, the magazine’s review of a 1988 biography of Capote called _Other Voices Other Rooms_ “well written and convincingly atmospheric, with no word out of place” — and recent TIME covers have featured prominent LGBTQ [activists](http://time.com/132769/transgender-orange-is-the-new-black-laverne-cox-interview/) and [issues](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20130408,00.html). Truman Capote is [still noted ](http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2014/09/25/tbt-happy-birthday-truman?page=full)as having been ahead of his time in his openness about his own sexuality. R.E. Berg, in his or her willingness to speak up for that openness, remains noteworthy too. **_Read TIME’s original review of_** **Breakfast at Tiffany’s** **_here, in the archives:_** [Bad Little Good Girl](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,810619,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3445150/truman-capote/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3445150/truman-capote/"},"headline":"Read a Stunningly Frank 1948 TIME Letter On Truman Capote and Sexuality","datePublished":"2014-09-30T11:00:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:27:59.763Z","description":"The author was unafraid of being frank about his homosexuality, but it made TIME uncomfortable","url":"https://time.com/3445150/truman-capote/","keywords":["Media","Books","LGBT","Homosexuality","author","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae509e764d9a16a/6986a5fa3bc99912ff1a597c/capote.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ae509e764d9a16a/6986a5fa3bc99912ff1a597c/capote.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Truman Capote With His Dog","caption":"Truman Capote With His Dog","creditText":"Mondadori / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3445150/truman-capote/","name":"Read a Stunningly Frank 1948 TIME Letter On Truman Capote and Sexuality"}}]}] ```