New Journalism and Truman Capotes Case - 1045 Words

Literature—the dictionary defines it being the art of written works that is designed to entertain, educate and instruct; writers use literature in an attempt to transfer their ideas from paper to the reader; for some, this task means bringing their story to a different place and time that is entirely separate from what the reader could perceive as ordinary, on order to serve the writer’s intent. With this the impossible, becomes the probable, and the worst fear possibly imagined becomes the breathed reality; with no stated separation between the living, and the dying. The word literature in itself cannot be accurately defined, and by attempting to do so limits, the word is instantaneously limited in its usage and effect. Literature just†¦show more content†¦While Mrs. Clutter gets ready to retire for the night, the Family Bible sits on the bedside table: â€Å"†¦ A bookmark lay between its pages, a stiff piece of watered silk upon which an admonition had been embroidered: â€Å"Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is† (35). In the next room, Nancy Clutter lays out a dress for Sunday morning: â€Å"†¦.having dried and brushed her hair and bound it in a gauzy bandanna, she set out the clothes she intended to wear to church the next morning: nylons, black pumps, a red velveteen dress—her prettiest, which she herself had made. It was the dress in which she was to be buried† (71). Simultaneously, Capote weaves in scenes of two men, Perry Smith and Dick Hickok, on their ominous journey to the Clutter’s family farm. Even before the first page is read, the readers are already made aware of how the book ends; the novel provides description of what took place during and after the trials, and how the townsfolk of Holcomb, reacted to the murder of the Clutter family. The story of what happened to the Clutter family is told, and all the audience can do is to wait in suspense and let the action fall out, like a car accident on the verge of happening. Capote’s use of blurring the line of truth and actuality is skillful, but it is also confusing. The ending that Capote gives, maintains a false sense of closure to the surviving Clutter daughters, and toShow MoreRelatedTruman Capote s The Cold Blood1705 Words   |  7 Pages Truman Capote’s â€Å"In Cold Blood† is widely considered today as the first â€Å"non-fiction novel.† Published in 1966 and the fruit of over 6 years of research, the novel is an account of the gruesome murder of the Clutter family by two fellow ex-convicts Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. The four members of the Clutter household, Kenyon, Nancy, Bonnie, and Herbert Clutter were all taken to a different location in the house and promptly executed, each by a brutal shot to the head with a 12-gauge shotgunRead MoreTruman Capote Used the World Around him to Created Writing633 Words   |  3 Pagesmost turbulent decades in U.S. history and new styles of writing were being discovered. A curious Truman Capote used his style of new journalism, events that took place in the late 1950s and the 1960s, and the novel In Cold Blood to change the face of literature for years to come. Commended author Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana to parents Lillie Mae and Archulus. (Bio.) Some of Capote’s childhood was spent in Monroeville, AlabamaRead MoreIn Cold Blood: Capotes New Non-Fiction Essay656 Words   |  3 Pagesand in Truman Capote’s case, is so gruesome that we do not dare forget it. 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It would have been impossible fo r Capote to have documentedRead MoreStyle Over Substance in Truman Capotes In Cold Blood Essay506 Words   |  3 PagesSubstancenbsp;in Capotes In Cold Bloodnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp; In Murder, He Wrote, William Swanson believes the stylistic techniques employed in Truman Capotes novel In Cold Blood are more memorable than the story itself. For Swanson, Capote not only captures the readers attention with a story about a horrific crime, but his use of diverse voices, sounds, and silences make it an event people will never forget. nbsp; Almost two decades after his initial exposure to Capotes novel, SwansonRead MoreTruman Capote’s Anonymity Essay2078 Words   |  9 PagesIn an interview with Truman Capote, George Plimpton asks if In Cold Blood is truly an accurate portrayal of the Clutter family’s murder, â€Å"One doesn’t spend almost six years on a book, the point of which is factual accuracy, and then give way to minor distortions† (Plimpton). Capote claims he only uses factual information in his story, completely removes himself from the novel, and has created a new genre of literature by combining reportage journalism with fiction techniques. However, literary criticsRead More Truman Capote Essay examples1144 Words   |  5 Pagesobjects only for face value, there are few who take a deeper look into what is actually present underneath the surface. One of these people was Truman Capote. Capote was able to take experiences from his own life and put them into words for the public to read and relate to. Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (â€Å"Great† 233) His mother, Lillie Mae Faulk was married to Arch Persons. (â€Å"Great† 234†) She was the tender age of sixteen whenRead MoreTruman Capotes In Cold Blood1137 Words   |  5 Pagesis sometimes blunt, sometimes ugly, and in Truman Capote’s case, is sometimes so gruesome that we do not dare forget it. With the novels publication in the 1960s, a new genre called ‘New Journalism’ had begun to surface; it sought to combine the elements of journalism with the elements of fiction and in doing so it sought to challenge the readers morally, emotionally, and intellectually by using a memoir-based approach, the notion of ‘New Journalism’ consists of four major characteristics thatRead MoreCold Blood : The Trial Of The Century966 Words   |  4 PagesIn Cold Blood verses the Trial of the Century Timelines and storytelling are two of the important aspects of any trial which occurs in the American Courts. The story of â€Å"In Cold Blood† by Truman Capote’s original publication in a four part article in The New Yorker, In Cold Blood was turned into a movie, some would say a documentary of the mass murder, it mirrors the crime O.J. Simpson was accused of in many aspects as being brutal and deliberate but as in both instances the stories appear to bringRead MoreEssay on New Journalism2295 Words   |  10 PagesInverted pyramid. Unbiased news gathering. Objectivity in reporting. Professionalism. Routines that would regulate news reports, translating information to readers, regardless of geography. Journalism spent the better part of the 20th century routinizing the news, attempting to shed its seedy past of â€Å"yellow journalism† amid the challenges of new technologies, first the radio, followed by the television. Then came the tumultuous 1950s and 1960s. Suddenly, the same tides of changes that were sweeping