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“The woods were dark and so quiet. Occasionally a bird would flutter or sing in the trees， and when their path ran near the stream， they could hear it moving， swiftly， over the rocks and tiny waterfalls.”

Those words were penned by critically acclaimed author Truman Capote， when he was a 15 year-old student at Greenwich High School. They appeared in the Green Witch， and clearly evidenced an already strong literary talent.

Tonight we celebrate our connection to this unique individual by hosting the Greenwich Historical Society 1）Black and White Ball， inspired by Truman Capote and his masked Ball of 1966.

“樹林里漆黑一片，寂然無聲。偶爾聽到鳥兒振翅聲，或是樹間的鳴唱聲。當(dāng)他們沿著腳下的小路走近小溪時，能聽見溪水潺潺地奔流，漫過巖石，流經(jīng)幾處小小的瀑布?！?/p>

這些文字出自飽受爭議的著名作家杜魯門·卡波特之筆，是他十五歲在紐約格林威治高中就讀時寫下的。這段話摘自《綠女巫》，從中可以清楚看到一位出眾的文學(xué)天才已經(jīng)嶄露頭角。

今晚，我們舉行格林威治歷史學(xué)會的黑白舞會，以此來紀(jì)念我們與這位獨(dú)特人物之間的關(guān)聯(lián)。舞會的靈感來自卡波特和他在1966年舉辦的假面舞會。

Truman Capote： And the reason we made it a masked dance was simply because， well， it went with the black and white idea， the domino black and white idea， but the thing is mainly in a masked ball， you see， for the first hours of it， before the unmasking， anybody can dance with anybody they want to or talk to anybody they want to. Its a completely free thing. By the time the unmaskings come， youve made a lot of new friends， （laughs） and that was the point.

Truman Capotes Other Voices， Other Rooms， his first novel， was met with critical success， but it was Breakfast at Tiffanys which introduced the irrepressible Holly Golightly.

（A Promo Clip of Breakfast at Tiffanys） Audrey Hepburn： Wont you join me？

Voiceover： Yes， join Audrey Hepburn as youve never seen her before， kicking over the traces and bringing to life Truman Capotes Breakfast at Tiffanys.

It was the book that followed that created a new literary genre and catapulted him to fame. In Cold Blood was a 2）painstakingly researched and chilling account of the 1959 3）slaying of a Kansas farm family and the capture， trial and execution of their two killers. Trumans unique approach told the story from the point of view of the murderers.

杜魯門·卡波特：我們把這場舞會辦成假面舞會的理由很簡單，就是源于最近很流行的黑白概念，黑白的多米諾骨牌。但重點(diǎn)還是在假面舞會上，你知道，舞會開始的幾個小時，在摘下面具之前，人們可以隨心所欲地跟任何人跳舞或交談。這是完全自由的。到了摘下面具的時候，你已經(jīng)交了很多新朋友了，（笑）這才是最重要的。

杜魯門·卡波特的第一本小說《別的聲音，別的房間》獲得了評論界一致好評，但卻是《蒂凡尼的早餐》讓我們認(rèn)識了霍莉·戈萊特利這樣一個讓人無法忘懷的人物。

（《蒂凡尼的早餐》一段預(yù)告片）奧黛麗·赫本：和我一起來吧？

畫外音：沒錯，跟著奧黛麗·赫本一起，領(lǐng)略她全新的一面，她的放蕩不羈，以及她如何將杜魯門·卡波特的《蒂凡尼的早餐》鮮活地呈現(xiàn)在銀幕之上。

真正使卡波特聲名大噪的是他接下來的一本書，它還開創(chuàng)了一種新的文學(xué)體裁?！独溲芬粫鴮?959年堪薩斯州的一起農(nóng)場滅門血案，包括對兩名兇手的抓捕、審判和行刑過程作了詳盡的調(diào)查和緊張刺激的記述?？úㄌ夭扇×霜?dú)樹一幟的手法，從兇手的視角來講述這個故事。

Capote： I always had this idea of writing a reportage using all the fictional techniques. They say， “well， its been done before.” I say it hasnt been done before and nobody has， convincingly， shown me an example.

The book earned him mountains of publicity and millions of dollars. He 4）assiduously pursued personal publicity， and his journey to celebrity meant cultivating scores of famous friends and New York socialites. Partly to celebrate the success of In Cold Blood， and to honour his friend Katherine Graham， the publisher of the Washington Post， Capote threw the party of the century. His Black and White Ball represented a 5）pivotal moment in social history. It was a window into a bright and 6）beckoning world.

Charles Kuralt （Reporter from CBS News）： The party of the year was thrown overhand by author Truman Capote. Using some of the profits he made from a book about murder in Kansas， he rented the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel and invited 500 people. The guest list established a standard for future party-givers in the new society of success. We have only a partial list of the people who were not invited. Everyone was asked to wear a mask， most of which were cleverly designed to reveal the wearers true identity.

Truman Capote died in 1984 at the age of 59. As history would have it， his Black and White Ball would be remembered as “the party of the century，” and In Cold Blood would establish a new literary genre， the non-fiction novel.

Tonight we celebrate the author， this complex， colourful and talented man， whose unique literary contributions are now part of the American experience.

卡波特：我一直有這個想法，想運(yùn)用小說的技巧來寫新聞報道。人們說：“好吧，有人已經(jīng)這么做過了?！笨晌艺J(rèn)為還沒有人這么做過，至少沒有人能夠給我舉出一個有說服力的例子。

《冷血》一書為卡波特贏得了鋪天蓋地的媒體報道和數(shù)百萬美元的收入。他樂此不疲地追求著個人的曝光率，廣交名流和紐約上層人士，以此來鋪就自己的成名之路。為了慶?！独溲反螳@成功，同時也為了向他的朋友——《華盛頓郵報》的出版人凱瑟琳·格雷厄姆致敬，卡波特舉行了這場被后人稱之為“世紀(jì)派對”的盛大舞會。他的黑白舞會標(biāo)志著社交史上一個極其重要的時刻，仿佛是一扇窗口，借此可以窺見那個五光十色、引人入勝的世界。

查爾斯·庫拉爾特（ CBS新聞記者）：今年最盛大的派對由作家杜魯門·卡波特高調(diào)舉辦。他用他所寫的一本關(guān)于堪薩斯州謀殺案的書獲得的部分收入租下了廣場飯店的舞廳，并邀請了500位賓客參加。這份客人名單為后來進(jìn)入成功者社交圈的派對舉辦者樹立了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。我們只知道部分未獲邀者的名單。每個人都被要求戴上面具，大多數(shù)的面具設(shè)計(jì)巧妙，透露著戴面具者的真實(shí)身份。

杜魯門·卡波特于1984年去世，享年59歲。正如歷史后來所呈現(xiàn)的那樣，他的黑白舞會將會作為“世紀(jì)派對”被人們銘記，而《冷血》將創(chuàng)立一種新的文學(xué)體裁——非虛構(gòu)小說。

今夜，我們在這里紀(jì)念這位作家，這位復(fù)雜、傳奇又才華橫溢的人物，他在文學(xué)上作出的獨(dú)特貢獻(xiàn)已被載入美國史冊。