SUNDAY REVIEW / STRAND MAGAZINE FINDS LOST TRUMAN CAPOTE SHORT FICTION

By Thomas Shess--Strand Magazine, a feisty 25-year-old literary quarterly magazine, goes beyond publishing original fiction and reprinting works of prominent authors. Managing Editor Andrew Gulli is an investigative reporter at heart. He loves delving members of his team to join him in delving into historical archives, trunks in attics, private collections, bookstores, and libraries to find unpublished works by famous and unfamous authors. 

Andrew Gulli

The modern-day Strand Magazine, no relation to the Strand Magazine of the late 19th century, who first published Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes epics, struck paydirt in 2022. Nouveau Strand thanks to Andrew Gulli’s determination found a never-before-published short story by Truman Capote called “Another Day in Paradise.”   Gulli's team won the Ellery Queen prize this year, an honor bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America.

The Strand's discovered story by Truman Capote is so short and tightly written that any hint of the storyline described here will cheat readers. Suffice it to say, it is a vignette about a day in the life of an American spinster living in the South of Italy and how she copes with the locals, especially one man, who has treated her badly. 

 Truman Capote and his unidentified companion in Taormina, Italy, April 1951. 

The descriptions of the woman’s villa and its surroundings are remarkable and captivating. The following is an excerpt from editor Gulli’s printed author’s note from Strand’s Summer 2023 edition. “the story was found in an old red and gold scrolled Florentine notebook in the Library of Congress archives. A stamp on the inside front cover indicates that Capote purchased the notebook in Venice at the Legatoria Piazzesi, Italy’s oldest paper shop, which is still up and running in the San Marco district. 

“Written in pencil, the story was at times difficult to decipher and I would be remiss if I didn’t offer my thanks to transcriber Louisa Jordan and fiction editor Lamia Gulli, who spent countless hours poring over Capote’s handwriting, deciphering his Italian and hunting down obscure Sicilian words…” 

To buy a copy contact via email: strandmag@strandmag.com 

Author Truman Capote gave the world two major works: Breakfast at Tiffany's
and In Cold Blood.  He also gave New York City the Black and White Ball held in 1966 at the Plaza Hotel.  Capote escorted Katharine Graham, owner of 
the Washington Post to what many society watchers considered the costume
gala of the century.