Significance of "La Côte Basque, 1965"

Truman Capote’s short-story, "La Côte Basque, 1965," represents betrayal and social suicide in The Swans of Fifth Avenue. This story was the first chapter of Capote’s novel Answered Prayers, and was published in Esquire magazine in 1975. The story was based on the lives of his socialite friends and although it employed pseudonyms, the characters were very thinly veiled and easily identified as Bill and Babe Paley. The publication of this story led to Truman’s estrangement from the Swans and from much of high society in New York.