Books: Spare the Laurels

OTHER VOICES OTHER ROOMS (231 pp.) — Truman Capote—Random House ($2.75).

The author of this first novel is only 23, but his literary promise has already caused a flutter in Manhattan publishing circles. When Editor Cyril Connolly of England's highbrow Horizon visited the U.S. last year (TIME, Oct. 20), he noted with sad alarm:

" 'Get Capote'—at this minute the words are resounding on many a sixtieth floor, and 'get him' of course means make him and break him, smother him with laurels and then vent on him the obscure hatred which is inherent in the notion of another's superiority."

On the strength...