Summary Of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

The In-between In an elementary curriculum, students must be able to determine the difference between a book that is fiction and a book that is non-fiction in the library. Most will tell you the gimmick, “Fiction means “fake” and non-fiction means “not fake””. While yes these kids are correct what happens when something is in-between- not fake, but not all real? The muddy water in-between is called literary non-fiction. Truman Capote brought this genre to the surface of the literary world with his 1966 novel, In Cold Blood, the followings of the aftermath of the Clutter family from Kansas. Thought the novel, Capote shows that to have a good piece of literary non-fiction, the author must have a good imagination, use a sustainable topic and heavily research their topic. Literary Non-Fiction is a type of prose that employs the literary techniques usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on persons, places, and events in the real world.
An author must have an imagination when creating a work from relatively new genre.
The events that are taking place may all be true, but the order in which they happened and the small details are where the author has to get creative. While staying true to the facts, Capote also has to fill in some of the blanks. In an interview about In Cold Blood conducted by George Plimpton in 1966, Capote said, “[Many in the literary world] felt that what I proposed, a narrative form that employed all the techniques of fictional art but was nevertheless immaculately factual, was little more than an literary solution for fatigued novelists suffering from ‘failure of imagination’”. Capote uses fictional elements to fill in spaces where he was missing details and because he did this so well, most are not able to tell the fact from the
fiction. While writing, and even before writing this genre of literature, authors must conduct large amounts of research on the topic they choose to write about. In Cold Blood had specific examples from the crime scene, the diary and the investigation case. Capote said, “I did months of comparative research on murder, murderers, the criminal mentality, and I interviews quite a number of murderers—solely to give me perspective on these two boys [Dick and Perry].” Becoming a regular visitor at the jail house, Capote conducted interviews with both men on the subject. He states, “I’d say about 80 percent of the research I have never even used.” An author must research the topic until they become almost expert, feeling as though they were there, and can fill in the details. Aside from having the facts and filling in the details, a piece of literary non-fiction must be centered on a sustainable topic. Capote stated in Plimpton’s interview, “ If you intend to spend three of four or five years with a book, as I planned to do, then you want to be reasonably certain that the material not soon “date’’”. While the author may take up to five years writing the book, the current event that the novel is about/ based on may have passed and become old news. Authors must be careful to choose a topic that they can keep relevant and interesting after the journalistic approaches have been taken towards it. Capote brought to light a fresh idea on a genre of writing; literary non-fiction. Taking real people, events and places, the newly introduced genre uses fictional techniques in a non-fiction setting. A good imagination, heavy research and a sustainable topic are among the ingredients to make a literary non-fiction novel. With his book In Cold Blood, Truman Capote expressed that in-between that is literary non-fiction.