Local Color is the third published book by the American author Truman Capote, released in the Fall of 1950. Local Color includes notes and sketches about persons and places, including travel journal-style essays on cities and countries Capote had lived in or visited.Amoia, Alba and Knapp, Bettina. Multicultural writers since 1945: an A-to-Z guide (2004) Greensood. p. 136
Local Color was published while Capote was vacationing in Venice.Clarke, Gerald. Capote: a Biography (1998) Carroll & Graff. p. 215
Conception Because Capote was in the habit of working with a number of fashionable magazines he was very keen to take a personal part in the layout and formatting of the physical book, including color schemes and photographic layouts.Clarke, Gerald. Capote: a Biography (1998) Carroll & Graff. p. 209
Contents The book includes nine vignettes:
"New Orleans" "New York City" "Brooklyn" "Hollywood" "Haiti" "To Europe" "Ischia" "Tangier" "A Ride Through Spain"
Reception and critical analysis Local Color received mixed reviews upon its publication. It received a brief unfavorable review from the Los Angeles Times.Stanton, Robert J. Truman Capote: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography (1980) G K Hall & Company. p. 46 The Boston Sunday Herald gave Capote's writing an unfavorable review, but praised some of the work's photography.Stanton, Robert J. Truman Capote: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography (1980) G K Hall & Company. p. 47 The Providence Sunday Journal offered a positive review of Capote's writing style, stating: "very good since it is characterized by varied, lively writing, immediate and honest; it is selective, rather romantically coloured, and there is not too much self-intrusion from the author."Stanton, Robert J. Truman Capote: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography (1980) G K Hall & Company. p. 49
Sales of Local Color reached approximately 4,500 books total.Clarke, Gerald. Capote: a Biography (1998) Carroll & Graff. p. 224
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