A Tree of Night and Other Stories is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 collection by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 Truman Capote

Truman Capote

Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...

 published in early 1949. The titular short story, "A Tree of Night", was first published by Harper’s Bazaar in October of 1945.

Contents

The book features a total of eight short stories:

• "Master Misery"
• "Children on Their Birthdays
  Children on Their Birthdays (short story)
  "Children on Their Birthdays" is a short story by Truman Capote, published serially in the late 1940s and appearing in A Tree of Night and Other Stories in 1949; it is noted as one of his better quality early short stories.-Conception:...
  
  "
• "Shut a Final Door"
• "Jug of Silver"
• "Miriam
  Miriam (short story)
  "Miriam" is a short story written by Truman Capote. It was originally published in the June 1945 issue of Mademoiselle. "Miriam" is notable because it is one of Capote's first published short stories; in 1946 it earned an O...
  
  "
• "The Headless Hawk"
• "My Side of the Matter"
• "A Tree of Night"

Themes

The horror stories in A Tree of Night and Other Stories involve recurring themes of isolation and emotional anxiety. The stories' protagonists are not quite ready to grow up, whether they are adults or children. The adult characters are emotionally isolated and bear unresolved emotional conflicts from childhood. Overall the stories are noted for involving "sexual anxiety and dysfunction without solidly grounded detail."

Publication history

• In 1950, A Tree of Night and Other Stories was issued in hardback in England by William Heinemann Ltd.
• In 1967, A Tree of Night and Other Stories was reprinted in a Penguin paperback edition.

Reception and critical analysis

A Tree of Night and Other Stories received mixed reviews upon its publication. It firmly established Capote as a southern writer along with his contemporaries such as William Faulkner

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...

 and Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

. The book received praise for its "enthralling style" and "remarkable beauty of language," but received criticism for characters who "lack substance."

Helen Garson considers A Tree of Night and Other Stories to have undoubted reader appeal and ranks it as one of Capote's top four works, alongside Other Voices, Other Rooms

Other Voices, Other Rooms (novel)

Other Voices, Other Rooms is a novel written by Truman Capote published in January 1948. Other Voices, Other Rooms is written in the Southern Gothic style and is notable for its atmosphere of isolation and decadence....

, Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 romantic comedy film starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, and featuring Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney. The film was directed by Blake Edwards and released by Paramount Pictures...

, and In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood is a 1966 book by Truman Capote.In Cold Blood may also refer to:* In Cold Blood , a 1967 film and 1996 miniseries, both based on the book* In Cold Blood...

.

Steven L. Vaughn comments that A Tree of Night and Other Stories proves to be consistent with Capote's earlier fiction, most notably Other Voices, Other Rooms which he describes as dark and dreamlike.

Sales of the book were approximately 6,750.