Summary Of In Cold Blood By Truman Capote

In 1959, author Truman Capote traveled to Holcomb, Kansas to write about the chilling, real-life murderers of the Clutter family. After over five years of research, interviews, and writing, Capote published his seminal work: In Cold Blood. According to Capote, his 1965 publication was a turning point in American writing; the creation of “New Journalism” in the form of creative nonfiction. While the book was widely received and critically acclaimed, scholars have spent the last 50 years debating the validity of Capote’s work. After the analysis of several sources and becoming familiar with the book itself, it appears that Capote did not achieve his goal of writing the nonfiction novel. In order for a story to be considered nonfiction, it

Capote believed that nonfiction could be “both as artful and as compelling as fiction” (Parker). The only reason that it was not is because nonfiction works were often written by journalists who were not able to “elevate it to the status of art” (Parker). Using a wide variety of literary techniques, Capote demonstrated the ability to take the story about the murder of the Clutter family, and turn it into an eloquent, intriguing work. In Cold Blood can be considered the work of a journalist because Capote reported on actual people and real events. However, his novel became a creative writing when he began inserting his own opinions into the story, and employing techniques such as imagery, symbolism, and metaphor into his work. For In Cold Blood to be classified as a nonfiction novel, it is crucial that it be a combination of both journalism and creative writing, yet Capote was not just focused on displaying the facts. While Capote did not create the nonfiction novel, he did manage to write a book many found impossible to stop reading. Not only did he write a captivating novel, but Capote also showed journalists the possibility of creating a journalistic style novel while incorporating creative writing