Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Is Based On These 2 Books

FX describes Feud: Capote vs. The Swans as “the original Housewives,” and it’s easy to see why. The latest installment in Ryan Murphy’s Feud anthology follows writer Truman Capote and his posse of high-profile New York women — whose scandals he mined for material.

Several familiar faces portray Capote’s entourage (aka the titular “Swans”): Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald. “I wanted icons to play icons,” Murphy told The New York Times. “Women who were iconic and had some degree of fame and success would understand what it was like to be Swans. I thought they would know the gravity and also the stress of being a star.”

While the Swans were big names in Capote’s New York, they may not be as well-known to viewers today. So, if you need a refresher, you’re not alone! Here’s a summary of the two books Feud: Capote vs. The Swans is based on.

The Original Burn Book?

The first book you’ll want to catch up on is Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer. The 2021 biography begins on the heels of Capote’s literary successes, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, with the author trying to pen his next “masterpiece,” Leamer writes.

When that took too long, Capote printed an excerpt from his forthcoming novel, Answered Prayers, as a “proof of life.” His biographer warned him that the chapter was “gossipy vignettes” that its thinly veiled subjects would surely see through. But as Leamer writes, Capote reportedly said they were “too dumb” to know their lives were getting the print treatment.

Capote’s Women takes time to trace the lives of the author and the Swans, before arriving at the fateful November day Capote’s chapter was published — and the tales of murder, infidelity, and other scandals in Esquire’s pages caused a stir among readers. The Swans were “profoundly hurt,” Leamer writes, and believed Capote “had abused their friendship and betrayed them.”

Capote passed away in 1984, less than a decade after falling out of favor in his once-thriving social circle.

A Scandalous Short Story

Want to read the story that caused such an uproar among the Swans and New York’s high society? Though Capote’s unfinished novel was published posthumously and is available to read today, you’ll want to focus on the 1975 Esquire excerpt, “La Côte Basque 1965.”

The passage begins with a lunch date between the protagonist and Lady Ina Coolbirth, who rattles off gossip before the writer’s attention drifts to other patrons — including real figures like Jackie Kennedy, as well as stand-ins for real people that were clear “to readers with even passing knowledge of the Swans,” per Smithsonian Magazine.

Some of the scandalous details include accounts about a woman who allegedly murdered her husband, and a one-night stand between a married man and the governor’s wife. The slice-of-life story permanently damaged Capote’s reputation, but according to The New York Times, he defended using his friends’ stories.

“What did they expect?” he once asked, per the outlet. “I’m a writer, and I use everything. Did all those people think I was there just to entertain them?”