The Muses Are Heard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Muses Are Heard is an early journalistic work of Truman Capote. Originally published in The New Yorker, it is a narrative account of the cultural mission by The Everyman's Opera to the U.S.S.R. in the mid-1950s.
Capote was sent to accompany the Opera as it staged a production of Porgy and Bess. First published in two parts, it was later released as a short non-fiction book. The title is taken from a speech given by a cultural ministry spokesman in which he says, “When the cannons are heard, the muses are silent. When the cannons are silent, the muses are heard.”
[edit] Narrative
The book opens with the cast, directors, support personnel and Mrs. Ira Gershwin waiting in Berlin for their visas and wondering if they will be under constant surveillance. They also consider political issues and how to answer sensitive questions, especially those about the “Negro situation.” Capote, who is present in the narrative, returns to his hotel room to find a brown paper parcel of anti-Communist pamphlets.
After a train ride of several days (the first two without a dining car), the cast and crew arrive in Leningrad a few days before Christmas and are dispatched to a hotel, the Astoria, which boasts “a trio of restaurants, each leading into the other, cavernous affairs cheerful as airplane hangars.” The rooms are small and over-furnished with “a miasma of romantic marble statuary.” Capote discovers that these rooms are seemingly assigned according to payroll. According to Bolshevik logic, the less you make, the better the accommodations.
Predictably, the production runs into a few snags. Programs are not printed in time for opening night. The directors are unable to gauge the Russian reaction, beyond their appreciation for certain musical numbers and their disapproval of the sexual themes.
[edit] Capote's treatment
It was hoped that Capote would paint the whole enterprise with a rosy brush, but instead, he seeks out the culture shock, odd juxtapositions and humor wherever possible. He unapologetically describes the tawdry stores in Leningrad and denizens of the local working class bar. In true Capote fashion, he chooses the exact detail to set the scene: a cast member's jive talk, the crunchy pillow in the train berth smelling of hay, meals of yogurt and raspberry soda, the wardrobe lady updating the only available American flag with three new stars.
While the cultural differences are so obvious, Capote does manage to show the East and West coming together at various times. The cast and crew are truly touched when the cultural ministry sets up a Christmas tree in the hotel lobby. The atmosphere warms up even more when the cast members commandeer the band's instruments and do a jumping “Sunny Side of the Street". Beyond the music, the two sides have one more thing in common; as a Norwegian businessman observes, they truly yearn for the love and approval of the rest of the world.
[edit] Sources
- Capote, Truman. The Muses Are Heard. New York: Random House, 1956.
- Clarke, Gerald. "Capote: A Biography". New York: Carroll & Graf, 1988.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
