Project Genre Capote

8/14/2019 Project Genre Capote

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A study of genre in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood detective novel or journalistic fiction?

Introduction...................................................................................................................2

Is it journalistic?............................................................................................................2

Stages of Modern Journalism (In Cold Blood & Explanatory Journalism)...............

Journalisti! elements in In Cold Blood"............................................................................#

Is it a novel?...................................................................................................................7

Is it a detective novel?.................................................................................................11

$rigins of t%e dete!tie story" t%e got%i! story ..............................................................''

%odunits and %rillers..................................................................................................'#

1. The Whodunit ............................................................................................................................142. The Thriller ................................................................................................................................15

Is it non-fiction?..........................................................................................................16

Conclusion...................................................................................................................19

Bibliograph................................................................................................................21

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Introduction

In this paper, we shall try to offer an approximation to a tentative study of the genre to

whichIn Cold Blood, Truman apote!s masterpiece, could "e assimilated. #aced with twoopposite$leading paths, those which would suggest that this text is a detective novel or a piece

of %ournalistic fiction, we have found it appropriate to delve into the nature of each item in

"oth la"els& thus, we shall consider what is meant "y !novel!, !detective novel!, !%ournalistic!,

!fiction!. 'nce this is ascertained, we shall concern ourselves with the rough classification of

elements in the text which would (in the piece to one or more genres. We will see how the

multiplicity of text types included in In Cold Bloodma(es our wor( difficult ) there are

*uotes, ta(en from interviews with the participants of the case, presented as verbatim"ut infact reconstructed from memory+ newspaper excerpts+ psychological reports+

auto"iographical texts written "y mith and -ic(oc(+ letters+ excerpts from mith!s and

ancy lutter!s diaries+ court testimonies, not from official records "ut from the writer!s own

notes+ accounts of other similar cases+ a "rief "iography of mith written "y his father+

dossiers on the criminal records of the accused+ even lyrics to the songs allegedly sung "y

mith on occasion.

In this way, towards the end of our wor( we will hopefully have reached a tentativegenre classification for the text.

Is it journalistic?

Stages of Modern Journalism (In Cold Blood & Explanatory Journalism)

/ccording to 0artine /l"erto1, %ournalistic genres are those modalities of literarycreation which are conceived as vehicles for the transmission of information through the

written press.

ournalistic genres are the result of a slow historic evolution of what is now

understood asjournalism.

1

os3 uis 0artne /l"ertos.Redaccin periodstica! "#os estilos y los g$neros en la prensa escrita%./.T.6., 7arcelona, 1894.2


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:oughly spea(ing, %ournalistic genres can "e classified according to their function

into two modalities& 1; the story and 2; the comment.

These two "asic genres have not "een e*ually important throughout the history of

%ournalism. In fact, each period in history has "een identified "y the predominance of one

over the other. It is precisely due to this predominance of a specific genre in a specific period

that, according to 7enito2, we can trace three different stages in the history of modern

%ournalism5?$2??1;&

1$ Ideological %ournalism =1>5?$181>;

2$ Informative %ournalism =1814@182?$1845;

5? up to the end ofWorld War I. It is a doctrinal, moralising %ournalism which responds to a period plagued "y

ideological factions and political camps. #rom the formal point of view, it is a type of

%ournalism with very little information and a lot of comments. In fact, the predominant genre

is precisely the comment. In this stage, the comment plays a decisive role since its main

function is to instruct the reader on ideological matters.

2$ The second stage is that of informative journalism. 7etween 1814 and 182? all the

technological innovations in the %ournalistic industry "ring a"out a new %ournalistic genrewhich is "asically a %ournalism of facts, not of comments. The predominant literary modality

is thestorywith its specific variants such as the news report and the chronicle.

"y

#ernand Terrou in #rance. In the E, the -utchins ommittee, which was in charge of

drawing up a report on the #reedom of Cress, o"served an analogous phenomenon and coined

the term of BInterpretative ournalismD to refer to it.

/n explanatory newspaper must, in principle, place the news in a context. 7ut this

tas( is extremely ris(y "ecause the %ournalist is invaria"ly fighting against two forces& the

2 Fngel 7enito. Teora general de la informacin& I Introduccin. 0adrid, 189


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o"%ective nature of facts and the su"%ective evaluation of such facts. -owever, "etween the

danger of falling into a mere display of o"%ective facts and that of spreading wrong =or

"iased; interpretations, the explanatory %ournalism prefers to run the ris( posed "y wrong

interpretations.

apote is no dou"t influenced "y this new trend in %ournalism which com"ines the

o"%ectivity and impersonal style of the news report and the underlying, insidious su"%ectivity

of the comment writer. apote presents all the facts to the reader and gives him a vivid, "low$

"y$"low account of the events "ut at the same time, he ta(es a stance. The reader can read

"etween the lines and get to (now, e.g., how apote feels a"out the crimes committed and

what he thin(s of capital punishment.

/ccording to 0artine /l"erto, what is typical@symptomatic of the supremacy of theevaluative content in interpretative newspapers is that they prefer to tal( of (onestyinstead of

objectivity. -ere, honesty means "eing loyal to oneself and consistent in oneAs evaluation of

the facts. Therefore, we could say that apote, far from "eing o"%ective in the strictest sense

of the word, is undou"tedly honest throughout the story )he is loyal to himself and

consistent in his evaluation of the facts he provides.

Journalistic elements in In Cold Blood

This "oo( has a very strong component which is typically associated with %ournalistic

writing. In order to draw a parallel "etween the two genres, we are going to concentrate on

the ne)s report, which is the prototype of the informative genres.

ews reports respect what may "e called a relevance structure. What is most

important or interesting comes first, and details, such as causes or other conditions and

"ac(grounds, come later so that the editor may eventually cut these to o"tain the wanted sie.

This structural characteristic also allows the reader to get the most important information

first, "efore the details. / partial reading then does not e*ual to a partial understanding of the

news "ut rather a mere loss of some BirrelevantD details.

The structure of a news report is li(e an inverted pyramid.

If we loo( at the structure ofIn Cold Bloodin the light of this downright staging, we

can see that information is also organised along the principle of relevance. apote gives the

most important information first and only then he dishes out all the details of the facts he has

previously introduced.

This structural characteristic of In Cold Blood underlines a su"tler, even closer4


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murderers. Hic( and Cerry are caught, they go to prison and finally they are sent to the

gallows. apote also descri"es in great length how these murders affect other people and how

the townspeople "egin to regard each other with mistrust and suspicion.

er"al reactions allow the %ournalist to state opinions which are not necessarily his

own. -owever, they are not totally o"%ective since itAs the %ournalist who selects the

*uotations.

/ll throughout the "oo( we come across with many instances of ver"al reactions.

haractersA opinions reaffirm apoteAs neutrality and add credi"ility to the piece of literature.

The category of comments includes the opinion and evaluations of the %ournalist or

the newspaper.

apoteAs non$fiction wor( is not marred "y his personal feelings a"out the crimecommitted. The "oo( is told from two different perspectives& that of the lutter family, who

are the victims, and that of the two murderers. The different perspectives allow the reader to

relive "oth sides of the story without "ias. Throughout the text, apote is adamant in giving

the facts to the reader directly and letting him formulate his own opinion.

The narrator tries to "e as o"%ective as possi"le. -owever, in some parts, his choice of

words and *uotations, or his extended descriptions on certain characters underline his su"tle

su"%ectivity./part from the structural similarities we have underlined "etween apoteAs novel and

news reports,In Cold Blooddisplays many strategies which are used "y %ournalists to stress

the factual nature of the information and ensure o"%ectivity. /ll throughout the "oo(, apote

masterfully ma(es use of&

JHirect, vivid descriptions of the events.

JTestimonies su"mitted "y the persons directly concerned.

JInformation ta(en from official records.

JInformation indicating precision and accurateness such as dates, num"ers and the

time at which events ta(e place.

J6vidence provided "y relia"le sources.

JGuotations from eyewitnesses

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Is it a novel?

In the second place, we are going to demonstrate why apote!s wor( is a novel. There

have "een many different ways of defining this genre throughout history+ there are definitions

from different points of view. #irst of all, let us state the o"vious& the format =shape and

length and the fact that it is divided into chapters; immediately lead us to thin( of the

possi"ility of this "oo( "eing a novel.

Then, if we thin( in terms of the characterisation given for the structure of a

%ournalistic text, we realise that we can also find instances of the structuring that are typical

of a novel, this is, the sort of upright construction descri"ed "y arl Warren for a novel in

which we have the setting and orientation first, then the development or plot and the climax

at the end. imilarly, in terms of an Hi%(As characterisation of the narrative structure as

opposed to the structure of a news report, we also find& 1$ The setting =time and place;, 2$

The orientation =participants, characters, etc.;


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intercalating of the stories of victims and villains, who, also according to 7a(htin!s

characterisation of the polyphonic novel, have all the same weight, the same importance. The

:ussian theorist says that this BheroesD have personalities of a different character, type and

temperament+ there is a BpathosD of these personalities& they change, the villain is then a

saint, and vice versa =in this connection, we can thin(, for example, of the way in which

apote depicts the criminals, especially Cerry, emphasising his human side and the history of

his life as a possi"le explanation for his "ehaviour;. 7a(htin goes on to state that all these

personalities have, as personalities, the same value. There is a %uxtaposition of heterogeneous

elements. In this theory, each BheroD is a potential BauthorD+ the world of a polyphonic novel

is a pluralist world and the different personalities do not merely coexist, "ut they interact& the

interaction of apoteAs characters is o"vious& some of them (ill some others. 7a(htinsuggests that Hostoievs(y thought his world in space, rather than in time+ apote, as well,

develops his novel in -olcom" without following the exact chronology of the events.

/nother point in common "etween them could "e their shared interest "y %ournalism, since,

according to 7a(htin, Hostoievs(i also related his fiction to current affairs. The last aspect of

7a(htinAs depiction of Hostoievs(i which we could apply to apote!s In Cold Bloodis the

idea of the BdisputeD present in the polyphonic novel& there is a fight "etween ideological

voices which are the "ase of this style& in apote, there is a fight "etween the puritan and thenon$puritan ideology, and we could also find an underlying dispute around death penalty,

around Bcrime and punis(mentD.

7a(htin developed this idea of the polyphonic novel in 1898. ow, let us turn at some

more traditional characterisations of the novel, those previous toIn Cold Blood and let us try

and find whether these too apply to apoteAs wor( ena"ling us to include it in the genre

BnovelD.

The-ncyclopaedia Britannica, *uoting the ./ford -nglis( +ictionary, defines the

novel as B/ fictitious prose narrative or tale of considera"le length =now usually one long

enough to fill one or more volumes;, in which characters and actions representative of the

real life of past or present times are portrayed in a plot of more or less complexityD. 5This

definition would face us with the discussion of whetherIn Cold Blood is a BfictitiousD wor(.

5-ncyclopaedia Britannica, 6ncyclopaedia 7ritannica, Inc., E../., 18M


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tudies of this genre previous to 7a(htinAs had "een made "y 6dward 0organ #orster

$ a novelist himselfMO in his "oo( /spects of the ovel, first pu"lished in 1829. 9In his "oo(,

he *uotes 0. /"el hevalleyAs definition of the novel& BIt is a fiction in prose of a certain

extentD to which #orster adds Bthe extent should not "e less than 5?.???. /ny fictitious prose

wor( over 5?.??? words will "e a novel for the purpose of this lectures.D>The lac( of a

chronological order which was not an impediment for a novel in 7a(htinAs terms, is neither

an o"stacle in #orsterAs. -owever, the latter emphasises the novelAs need for a story, BWe

shall all agree that the fundamental aspect of a novel is its story$telling aspect, without which

it could not exist. That is the highest factor common to all novels... /nd now the story can "e

defined. It is a narrative of events arranged in their time se*uence...it can only have one

merit& that of ma(ing want to (now what happens next. /nd conversely it can only have onefault& that of ma(ing not want to (now what happens next.D Therefore, there is also a need for

suspense.D

Is there a story inIn Cold BloodP Endou"tedly yes, and we could even thin( of more

than one, as we will show later on =the story of the crime, the story of the investigation, the

story of the trial;. Is there suspense in In Cold BloodP 'ur answer would also "e affirmative,

since although we find many aspects of the crime revealed in the B%ournalisticD summary of

the first chapter, there are some other aspects of the BotherD stories included in the "oo(which create suspense and ma(e us want to go on reading.

#orster highlights the role of the characters in a novel& Bince the actors in a story are

usually human, we call this aspect BpeopleD. ince the novelist himself is a human "eing,

there is an affinity "etween him and his su"%ect$matter which is a"sent in many other forms

of art.D This seems to "e clearly the case ofIn Cold Blood, the sympathy and understanding

of his characters made "y apote, his exploration of their human side which could "e seen as

an indicator of his commitment as an anti$capital punishment citien.

MThe description that the-ncyclopaedia Britannicaincludes of #orsterAs fiction can "e also related tothe BBa,(tinianpolyphonic featuresD ofIn Cold Blood& B#orster deals with the interaction of twotypes of character, the intersection of two planes of living. In all his novels he "rings into conflictthose who live "y convention and those who live "y instinct+ those for whom prosperity and proprietyand those for whom personal relationships, are the most important things in life. The world ofconvention he descri"es with (een o"servation and satire, and his descriptions of it a"ound inunforgetta"le touches of wisdom and humour+ in the world of instinct and emotion he is really athome, and perhaps never so much as when =in several of his short stories; he is fran(ly telling a fairytale.D #rom-ncyclopaedia Britannica, 6ncyclopaedia 7ritannica, Inc., E../., 18MIt should "e noted that his "oo( was in fact the transcription of a series of lectures.8


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/nd we still havenAt solved our pro"lem related to the fictitious nature of the novel.

#orster wonders& BWhatAs the difference "etween people in a novel and people li(e the

novelist, or li(e you, or li(e Gueen ictoriaP If a character is exactly li(e Gueen ictoria,

then it actually is Gueen ictoria, and the novel, or all of it that the character touches,

"ecomes a memoir. / memoir is history, it is "ased on evidence. / novel is "ased on

evidence more or less, the un(nown *uantity "eing the temperament of the novelist and it

always modifies the effect of the evidence, and sometimes transforms it entirely.D o we

could wonder& what is the difference "etween the Cerry and Hic( of the novel and the real

onesP #orster esta"lishes a parallel "etween a novel and a history "oo( which seemed to us

wonderfully clarifying& BThe historian deals with actions and with the characters of men only

so far as he can deduce them from their actions. -eAs *uite as much concerned with thecharacter as the novelist, "ut he can only (now of its existence when it shows on the surface.

If Gueen ictoria had not said, BWe are not amusedD, her neigh"ours at ta"le would no have

(nown she was not amused. /nd its the function of the novelist to reveal the hidden life at its

source& to tell us more a"out Gueen ictoria than could "e (nown, to produce a character

who is not the Gueen ictoria of history.D Guoting /lain, #orster adds& B...each human has

two sides, appropriate to history and fiction. /ll that is o"serva"le in a man Oactions and his

spiritual existence as can "e deduced from his actions$ falls into the domain of history... "utthe romantic side includes the pure passions, i.e. dreams, %oy, sorrows... to express this side of

human is one of the chief functions of the novel. What is fictitious in a novel is not so much

the story as the method "y which thought develops into action, a method which never occurs

in daily life...-istory, with its emphasis on external causes, is dominated "y the notion of

fatality, whereas there is no fatality in the novel... everything is founded on human nature,

and the dominating feeling is of an existence where everything is intentional, even passions

and crimes, even misery.D

Without entering a discussion a"out the fatalistic character attri"uted to history, which

would "e most misleading to the aim of this analysis, what we could infer from this

description of the novel is that, since apote has in fact explored the human nature of his

characters, and he has shown their private motivations and their psychology in his "oo(, so if

we follow #orster and /lainAs postulates, we should accept that In Cold Bloodis a wor( of

fiction. -owever, once again let us "ear in mind that these theories are previous to the

1?


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pu"lishing of apoteAs "oo(, temporal element whose importance will "e patent once we

finish our analysis.

/dding to this argument #orster signals that, BThe historian records whereas the

novelist must create. The fundamental difference "etween people in daily life and people in

"oo(s. In daily life we never understand each other... "ut people in a novel can "e understood

completely, if the novelist wishes+ their inner as well as their outer life can "e exposed... /

novel is a wor( of art, with its own laws, which are not those of daily life... a character in a

novel is real when it lives in accordance with such laws. TheyAre real not "ecause theyAre li(e

ourselves =though they may "e li(e us; "ut "ecause theyAre convincingD. /fter this last *uote

we could start to wonder whether we are not in front of a new sort of genre, "ecause apote

creates, "ut he also records+ he shows the inner as well as the outer life of his characters, "utthis inner and outer have "een narrated "y the characters themselves, and they are convincing,

not only "ecause apote wants to ma(e them seem convincing, "ut "ecause they, the real

ones, have convinced apote.

Is it a detective novel?

!rigins of the detective stor" the gothic stor

7efore the rise of the detective novel in the nineteenth century, one of the most read

type of stories in 6urope were the Tales of Terror. ater on these tales were called gothic

stories.

-orace Walpole was the first author to use the term !gothic!& in 19M4, in Kreat 7ritain,

he named his "oo( T(e Castle of .tranto !a gothic story!. -owever, the 6urope of the

6nlightenment shed a negative light upon the word& it was used to refer to the despised,

uncivilised northern "ar"arians in 6urope "efore the 0iddle /ges. Hespite the cynicism that

Walpole had to deal with according to the term he applied to his "oo(, the gothic story

"ecame a popular genre.

The gothic stories dealt mainly with crime together with mystery. The setting was

usually in an old castle or in a ruin. The characters of the story were either naive lovers or

nuns in a monastery, who had sinful thoughts, and therefore had to "e punished "y a Hivine

Cower. This Cower had the intention to ma(e the sinful persons realise how close life was to

death, often "y introducing them with all sorts of supernatural powers, coming from the

inside of the castle!s walls. The castle or ruin itself was therefore also one of the main11


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characters of the novel. -uman characters in a gothic tale did not normally have much chance

to survive the frightening demonic appearances they were attac(ed "y.

till there is different way of reading the stories. Walpole was one of the authors who

used his wor(s to express his opinion a"out political issues or a"out society in general. In that

case, the castle or ruin were sym"ols for the surroundings in real life. The demonic

appearances could "e seen as the political powers that were always there to tell people off or

to punish them.

Huring the 19>?!s the genre split into different directions. 'ne group of authors

started to write from a more didactical viewpoint, another too( over the demonic aspect and

made it the main and central point of the novels. 0rs. /. :adcliffe was the first author who

made a more radical change within the genre. he introduced a rational solution to the crimescommitted and, "y doing so, she made a division "etween stories with terror and stories with

horror. he also came up with the idea to let two characters discuss the crime and solve it

during their discussion "y analysing it logically. This now reminds us of the famous fictional

detective herloc( -olmes and his helper Watson. 0rs. :adcliffe made a start towards the

rise of the detective novel and the end to the supernatural popular crime stories.

The first actual detective story was not written in 6urope "ut in 7oston, E/. 6dgar

/llan Coe created the first detective$hero in fiction in 1>41. This hero was called hevalier. /uguste Hupin and was introduced to the world in T(e 1urders in t(e Rue 1orgue+ the

setting of the novel was Caris, #rance. Coe had received the idea of creating such a story from

different sources. -e was familiar with the pu"lic!s taste, "ecause he had studied some

popular 6nglish magaines. /n important source for Coe came from Caris, from the

1emoires of 6ugene #rancois idoc*.

/ former criminal, notorious with the #rench police, idoc* was the first human

detective in #rance and he "ecame well (nown for his fast and successful career. The Carisian

police at the start of the nineteenth century was an invention of apoleon, who had created a

corrupt power to secure his own safety. When idoc* %oined the police force, he concentrated

more on arresting criminals then on protecting the state!s power )which did not ma(e him a

popular person within the police force. -is 1emoires were a"out this career, for which the

pu"lic loved him. They finally found a possi"ility to identify themselves with the police wor(

and at the same time connect it with exciting crime stories. The #rench pu"lic came to love

him even more, "ecause they distrusted the police and they found out that idoc* had during

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the first part of his life "een the police!s enemy. The wor( and life of this detective inspired

many authors.

Coe "ecame extremely popular in /merica and in #rance with his detective novels,

"ut in Kreat 7ritain people found the stories too cruel& Coe had concentrated mainly on a

"rute murder and on the analytical way the detective solved the crime. The 6nglish pu"lic

seemed to "e more used to harles Hic(ens!s style. /lthough "oth Coe and Hic(ens wrote

sensational stories, the latter gave more attention to the characters and their development and

concentrated less on the details of the murder.

The 7ritish detective novel emerged from the pre$6dwardian era in the form of a

constructed pule. /round the 1>8?!s the first 6nglish detective novel was pu"lished. It was

/rthur onan Hoyle who (new the taste of the 6nglish pu"lic and introduced a detective$hero the 7ritish people could identify themselves with& herloc( -olmes, who em"odied the

ideal detective and soon "ecame world$famous. 6verything in the novels "ecame

su"ordinated to the intellectual interest as the detective story evolved into a game played

"etween author and reader with the clues scattered fairly throughout the narrative. It has "een

said that the "eauty of the detective novel was in its /ristotelian perfection of "eginning,

middle and end. #rom then on, the detective fiction "ecame one of the most popular genres in

literature.The environment in which the characters lived had changed radically& the castles

surrounded "y a gloomy forest were now made into recognisa"le daily settings. haracters in

the stories were, with the rational way of approaching a crime, also given a possi"ility to

survive. /lso, there is the distinctive moral in the genres. It is possi"le to consider the gothic

novel as a genre that is trying to (eep the people aware of Kod!s presence and of the danger

of choosing the wrong path in life. The detective novel on the other hand, condemns crime$

actions and stands for the %ustification of human rights.

-owever, the traditional 6dwardian detective genre changed form through the 182?s

and 18


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pre$war world could "e easily maintained. The detective novels firmly asserted a static nature

of society. They sustained a falsely aristocratic and uncompromisingly world which

consolidated the feelings of the upper classes and appealed to the sno""ish elements of the

lower classes. -owever, society was changing and people "egan to find it increasingly

difficult to accept the platitudes offered "y the detective genre. The growing fear of war crept

into the wor(s and violence "egan to shatter the idyllic word that they had maintained. The

form changed accordingly and, in the 18


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(appened' )(ereas t(e second t(e story of t(e investigation e/plains

'(o) t(e reader "or t(e narrator% (as come to ,no) about it!'

6ach story has a status which is the converse of the other.

T(e first t(at of t(e crime is in fact t(e story of an absence& its

2salient3 c(aracteristic is t(at it cannot be immediately present in t(e boo,!

In ot(er )ords t(e narrator cannot transmit directly t(e conversations of

t(e c(aracters )(o are implicated nor describe t(eir actions& to do so (e

must necessarily employ t(e intermediary of anot(er "or t(e same%

c(aracter )(o )ill report in t(e second story t(e )ords (eard or t(e

actions observed! T(e status of t(e second story 2consists in being3 a story

)(ic( (as no importance in itself )(ic( serves only as a mediator bet)een

t(e reader and t(e story of t(e crime! 4e are concerned t(en in t(e

)(odunit )it( t)o stories of )(ic( one is absent but real t(e ot(er present

but insignificant!

2. The Thriller

Todorov defines the thriller as&

anot(er genre )it(in detective fiction created in t(e 8nited 9tates

just before and particularly after 4orld 4ar II! 2T3(is ,ind of detective

fiction fuses t(e t)o stories or "more precisely% suppresses t(e first and

vitali:es t(e second! 4e are no longer told about a crime anterior to t(e

moment of t(e narrative7 t(e narrative coincides )it( t(e action! 0o t(riller

is presented in t(e form of memoirs& t(ere is no point reac(ed )(ere t(e

narrator compre(ends all past events )e do not even ,no) if (e )ill reac(

t(e end of t(e story alive! *rospection ta,es t(e place of retrospection!

T(ere is no story to be guessed7 and t(ere is no mystery in t(e

sense t(at it )as present in t(e )(odunit! But t(e reader's interest is not

t(ereby diminis(ed7 )e reali:e (ere t(at t)o entirely different forms of

interest e/ist! T(e first can be called curiosity7 it proceeds from effect to

cause& starting from a certain effect "a corpse and certain clues% )e must

find its cause "t(e culprit and (is motive%! T(e second form is suspense and

(ere t(e movement is from cause to effect& )e are first s(o)n t(e causes t(e

initial doers "gangsters preparing a (eist% and our interest is sustained by

t(e e/pectation of )(at )ill (appen t(at is certain effects "corpses crimes

fig(ts%! T(is type of interest )as inconceivable in t(e )(odunit for its c(ief

c(aracters "t(e detective and (is friend t(e narrator% )ere by definition

immuni:ed& not(ing could (appen to t(em! T(e situation is reversed in t(e

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t(riller& everyt(ing is possible and t(e detective ris,s (is (ealt( if not (is

life!

The thriller see(s to depict a particular milieu, and it organises itself

around specific c(aracters and be(aviour! T(is is (o) it )as

described in ; by 1arcel +u(amel its promoter in rance& in it )e find

'violence in all its forms and especially in its most s(ameful& beatings

,illings!!! Immortality is as muc( at (ome (ere as noble feelings! T(ere is

also love preferably vile violent passion implacable (atred!' Indeed it

is around t(ese fe) constants t(at t(e t(riller is constituted& violence

generally sordid crime t(e amorality of t(e c(aracters!

Is it non-fiction?

@T(ere is not(ing so po)erful as t(e trut( and often not(ing as strange!

"+aniel 4ebster%!

Truman apote has defined himself as the father of a new genre& what he called the

Snon$fiction novelA. In Cold Blood is a factual "oo( using the literary s(ills of anaccomplished novelist. This non$fiction novel initiated a whole new genre of writing. It has

"een called literary %ournalism and creative non$fiction. In the very "eginning of the "oo(, in

the ac(nowledgements apote gives his method. -e claims veracity. This leads us to

conclude that this investigative classic "elongs to a hy"rid type of genre& a com"ination of the

two previously mentioned and analysed in our wor(. /nyway, apote never felt the Sliterary

worldA gave him enough recognition for conceiving a new form of writing, and he was

categorically "itter a"out that.

IfIn Cold Bloodwere read without the awareness that it is non$fiction, no"ody would

dare to challenge its literary attri"utes. We are facing a Sfact fictionA whose narrative imposes

fictional techni*ues on rigorously documentary material. In other words,In Cold Blood is

dou"tless the most premeditated, the most vigorously planned product of a movement

towards high$reportage, towards fiction$documentaries, which was recognised as emerging in

the Enited tates a"out twenty years ago.

1M


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apote "ecame the leading practitioner of Sew ournalismA. -is idea was, in his own

words, to "ring Sthe art of the novelist together with the techni*ues of %ournalismA to produce

a needed new genre, namely, the non$fiction novel. apoteAs masterpiece was written in an

o"%ective and highly innovative prose style com"ining the factual precision of %ournalism

with the emotive force of fiction. Therefore we cannot deny how closely connected this "oo(

is to the %ournalistic genre on the one hand, and to the narrative one, on the other. /nd this is

clearly seen in apoteAs reporterAs approach and his novelistAs renowned career com"ined.

While apote claimed in a well$pu"licised interview in the0e) or, Times Revie)

of Boo,s=anuary 1M, 18MM; the "oo( was Simmaculately factualA, however the novelist side

of him, in many occasions, permitted great li"erties with the facts. /nd some would say he

a"used "oth conventions.Why is this non$fictionP '"viously "ecause the author did not ma(e up the story. In

the small mid$western town of -olcom", Lansas, a family is murdered in cold "lood. apote

sees the report in the paper and decides to visit the town and discover what occurred. -e

"egins his research with the help of his childhood friend -arper ee =author of To Dill a

1oc,ingbird; "efore the murderers are imprisoned. apote carried out extensive interviews

and immersed himself in the case so he could write a"out real$life events as a novelist does O

together with the thoughts and feelings of the characters. -e is there when the suspects are"rought up into %ail. -e lives in the town, and he gains the trust of the townspeople and the

murderers in %ail. /t least enough trust so that they spea( candidly to him. The "oo( was a

money$ma(ing accomplishment, "ut apote was never the same after. -e spent six years of

his life on this pro%ect, and much of it was distressing. -e confessed that if he had (nown

what the "oo( was going to cost him emotionally, he would have never started it.

The four victims of this "oo( O-er", 7onnie, ancy, and Lenyon lutterO were all

real$life people, with real$life dreams, pro"lems, and personalities. The reader connects with

the lutters "ecause of the vivid details apote ma(es use of in his writing. -e also does an

un"elieva"le %o" portraying the (illers. 7oth Cerry mith and Hic( -ic(oc( are depicted in

an e*ually vivid way that ma(es the lutters seem life$li(e.

While incarcerated, Cerry and Hic( considered him a true friend and wanted his help

to get a pardon. Truman apoteAs depiction of mith is "iarrely sympathetic and contradicts

the fact that CerryAs dysfunctional family life and violent sexual a"use in the military service

had helped generating a fiend. ome critics speculate that apote, overtly homosexual and a

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result of a trou"led youth, identified himself with mithAs crushed childhood and developed a

=sexual@emotional; attraction to him. In fact, rumours disclose that apote was clearly in love

with him. onse*uently, apote felt torn "y his affections for the two and "y the (nowledge

of the horrifying murders they had committed.

apote ta(es you "eyond the newspaper headline in his novel. 7ut it is more than %ust

a crime novel though. ItAs a slice of life. ItAs not a story, "ut a happening. The reader is

su"merged into the real world with real facts not through the eyes of a witness, a

correspondent, a plaintiff or a defendant, "ut via a storyteller that leaves no stone unturned

and who also manages to practically ta(e no sides. /nd we say SpracticallyA "ecause, as a

novelist, a slight su"%ectivity cannot help "ut percolate throughout his wor(. apote was

determined not to interfere with the readerAs %udgement process, "ut he was not a"solutelyneutral. mith engages his sympathy a good deal more than does -ic(oc(. That is why we

have many more pages and episodes dedicated to him and not to his crime partner. 0oreover,

most of the "oo( argues against capital punishment. /nd finally, we have the last dramatic

scene of the novel where apote descri"es CerryAs death and his final words =BIt would "e

meaningless to apologie now. 7ut, I do apologieD;. uriously enough, apote was only

present at Hic(As execution. -e could not stand to watch Cerry die, and there is a"solutely no

one who remem"ers CerryAs apology. everal critics and "iographers claimed that Trumanapote had no respect for the truth, that he felt that as a fiction writer he had license to say

whatever came to his mind as long as it had a surprising point. We do admit that apote

added CerryAs final words for dramatic effect and that is all there is to it.

Koing "ac( to where we started,In Cold BloodAs appeal is not limited to crime$story

readers, it has all the *ualities of a solid, well$"uilt piece of fiction Oexcept that every word is

"ased on facts. apoteAs intent was to perform a literary experiment and create a non$fiction

wor( that Sread li(e a novelA. -e decided on a murder not for the issue itself, "ut "ecause the

case would supply enough facts for a large$scale wor(. We are in the presence of literary

%ournalism. iterary "ecause, =as -ollowell1? states; unli(e most traditional %ournalism, In

Cold Bloodpossesses a tremendous power to involve the reader. This immediacy, this

spell"inding you are there effect comes less from the sensational facts =which are

underplayed; than from the =fictive; techni*ues apote employs. The narrative reads li(e a

1?-ollowell, ohn. Capote Truman. Contemporary #iterary Criticism. 6d. haron Kunten. ol.18.

Hetroit& Kale :esearch o., 18>1. >2.1>


19/21


novel largely "ecause of the use of scene$"y$scene reconstruction instead of historical

narration, the ironic heightening of dialogue, and the s(illful manipulation of point of view.

-allowell says that apote!s a"ility and experience as a novelist are u"i*uitously manifest in

the final product. -e could not, of course, record all the events of the lutters! lives, nor did

he dwell on each tiny detail concerning the (illers. Instead, he chose the scenes and

conversations with the most powerful, dramatic appeal. It is precisely apote!s a"ility to

capitalise on the hidden meanings of these significant moments that contri"utes to the

narrative impact on the "oo(. The conversations with close friends of the lutters, with the

chief detectives, and even with the (illers themselves, are powerfully rendered.

evertheless, critics li(e 6ve Colley Oin the summer of 1888O, argue that it is hard to

"elieve that any familyAs life is as simple as the one portrayed in that "oo(. he says she canalso accept that it is necessary to leave out a lot of details while writing a


20/21


We have esta"lished that the first chapter of the novel is strongly reminiscent of the

lead of a newspaper article. onfronting an Hi%(!s theories, from this point of view we may

find the structure corresponding to the inverted pyramid. till, there is a fundamental element

missing& the end of the murderer or murderers. /t this point, we might start to consider the

possi"ility of another )parallel) point of view, which coexists with the former& a stand

which allows us to view the text along different lines )lines that draw an upright pyramid,

upon whose "ase there lies the climax of a novel.

Whether we choose to represent this intricate structure in )somewhat) u"ist terms

=#ig. 2;, or "y means of a less daring, more compromised structure =#ig. 1;, is not important,

as long as the meaning underlying this representations is clear. In apote!s masterpiece, the

two structures coexist and interact& they are mutually interdependent. Hual "ut notam"ivalent, the text reminds us of an old sculpture of anus )coherent in its two$faced view.

2?


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Bibliography

http&@@M4.>1.59@We"store@CopularU2?ultureU2?ourse

U2?0aterials@[email protected]

http&@@M5.1?9.211.2?M@victorian@[email protected]

http&@@etext.li".virginia.edu@6TH@directory@[email protected]

http&@@hagen.let.rug.nl@Js?858>[email protected]

http&@@www.crimeli"rary.com@classics@clutter@>.htm

#a noticia como discurso! Comprensin estructura y produccin de la

informacin. Teun /. van Hi%(. Translated "y Kuillermo Kal. 6ditorial CaidNs,

7arcelona, 188?.

Redaccin periodstica! "#os estilos y los g$neros en la prensa escrita%. os3 uis

0artne /l"ertos. /.T.6., 7arcelona, 1894.

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http://64.81.53.87/Webstore/Popular%20Culture%20Course%20Materials/PopCult/tod.htmlhttp://64.81.53.87/Webstore/Popular%20Culture%20Course%20Materials/PopCult/tod.htmlhttp://65.107.211.206/victorian/genre/PIlit.htmlhttp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ETD/directory/listings/gillis.htmlhttp://hagen.let.rug.nl/~s0959804/welcome.htmlhttp://64.81.53.87/Webstore/Popular%20Culture%20Course%20Materials/PopCult/tod.htmlhttp://64.81.53.87/Webstore/Popular%20Culture%20Course%20Materials/PopCult/tod.htmlhttp://65.107.211.206/victorian/genre/PIlit.htmlhttp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ETD/directory/listings/gillis.htmlhttp://hagen.let.rug.nl/~s0959804/welcome.html

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