History Of Women

Truman Capote, one of America’s more colorful literary personalities, was born in New Orleans in 1924 and died in California in 1984. He wrote both fiction and non-fiction — short stories, novels and novellas, travel writing, profiles, reportage, memoirs, plays and films. His work of fiction that is probably most well-known (although not many people know that Capote wrote it) is the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

What I am most interested in, however, is his masterpiece, In Cold Blood. This “nonfiction novel” spawned a whole new genre of writing. It has been called literary journalism and creative nonfiction.

In the small mid-western town of Holcomb, Kansas, a family is murdered. Capote sees the write-up in the paper and decides to visit the town and find out what happened. He begins his research before the murderers are captured. He is there when they are brought in to jail. He lives in the town; he gains the trust of the townspeople and the murderers. At least enough trust so that they speak candidly in front of him (he has a little help from his childhood friend, Harper Lee [author of To Kill a Mockingbird], who also interviews townspeople).

The book was a commercial success, but Capote was never the same after. He spent six years of his life on this project, and much of it was harrowing. While imprisoned, Perry and Dick considered him a true friend and wanted his help to get a pardon. Capote felt torn by his affections for the two and by the knowledge of the horrific murders they had committed.

Another question Capote may have asked was “What next?” It’s always hard to follow a success because of expectations. Too, Capote never felt the “literary world” gave him credit for inventing a new form of writing, and he was definitely bitter about that.

In any case, the whole experience seemed to have left Capote with a void inside.