Portfolio at NYU

Truman Capote, In Cold Blood (1966)
Capote was one of the most famous and controversial figures in contemporary American literature, and In Cold Blood: An Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences is perhaps his best-known work. With it, he invented the "nonfiction novel," becoming a leading practitioner of New Journalism, together with Tom Wolfe and others.

The book was six years in the making, and originally came about when Capote seized upon a 300-word article in the back of the New York Times about a brutal, unsolved murder of Kansas farmer and his family. Capote immediately went down to Holcomb in Kansas, to the scene of the crime. It was only six years later, when the two drifters were executed on the same day, that Capote could finish his book.

Herbert Clutter and his wife and two children were bound, gagged, robbed and shot by two ex-convicts who left with $40 and a pair of binoculars. As the resident of Holcomb would later testify, there was no one who didn't like the Clutters. One of Capote's devices in In Cold Blood is to juxtapose the perfect 1950s American family with as different a world that was possible in rural America: the environment of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. This was a world of violence, alcoholism, suicide and dysfunction. In the case of Perry Smith in particular, there were parallels between his background and Truman Capote's own childhood. Capote understood that what separated him from Smith was luck. There are rumors that the two conducted an affair during Capote's research, but either way it is obvious where Capote's sympathies lie. His insight into Smith's life and psychology play a great part in the success of the book.

Capote's style is objective and is highly innovative prose; it combines the factual accuracy of journalism with the emotive impact of fiction. He understood the suspense that could be garnered by lengthy descriptions and by letting his characters speak extensively. Capote said that he wanted to bring "the art of the novelist together with the techniques of journalism." In its portrayal of Perry Smith and in its pervasive theme of victimization, the book is an echo of Capote's earliest fiction that had an ornate style and dark psychological themes. In Cold Blood is particularly noted for Capote's subtle insight into the ambiguities of the legal system and capital punishment.

Originally serialized in the New Yorker, and published in book form in 1965, In Cold Blood became a bestseller and generated several million dollars in royalties and profits.

While Tom Wolfe and other New Journalists were reporters who borrowed from fiction-writing techniques, Capote was a novelist who borrowed reporters' skills. As journalists, however, we can learn from Capote's reporting as well as his literary writing style. He was a good listener and spent many months talking to Perry Smith in particular. It is through this patient reporting that the telling details of In Cold Blood appear: the high-school drop-out who attempted to self-improve by writing out vocabulary lists, who admitted he liked Mr. Clutter "right up to the point when I slit his throat." Carolyn See of the Los Angeles Times said that Capote "had the uncanny gift of putting a world or scene together in a few perfect details." Given that he was a dandified high-flying New York reporter who was resented in the small Kansas town of Holcomb, it is amazing that Capote got as much information as he did.

Other Reviews:

Tony Tanner, The Spectator: "It is the American dream turning into the American nightmareÿby juxtaposing and dovetailing the lives and values of the Clutters and those of the killers, Capote produces a stark image of the deep doubleness of American lifeÿ a remarkable book."

David Remnick: Truman Capote was "a writer of brilliance, capable of economic, evocative prose. His technique was mature, professional in the best possible sense."