The Literature Book

278

THERE’S GOT TO BE

SOMETHING WRONG

WITH US. TO DO

WHAT WE DID

IN COLD BLOOD (1966), TRUMAN CAPOTE

T

he term “New Journalism”

was introduced by critics

in the 1960s to describe

the work of American writers such

as Truman Capote, Norman Mailer,

Tom Wolfe, and Gay Talese, who

used literary techniques to relate

nonfictional stories and present

factual reporting dramatically.

Capote’s theory that journalism

could be forced to yield a new art

form, the “nonfiction novel” (which

he expounded in a 1966 interview

in The New York Times), lay at the

heart of his book In Cold Blood.

In 1959 Capote had read a

newspaper report that offered an

ideal subject on which to exercise

his theory: a wealthy Kansas

farmer, Herbert Clutter, and

members of his family had been

shot dead for no apparent reason.

Assisted by his friend, author

Harper Lee, Capote visited the

scene and began researching

the murder. In Cold Blood was

published seven years later.

Murder in Kansas

The book describes the murder,

which occurred on November 15,

1959. There were four victims:
      48-year-old Clutter, a churchgoing,
      hardworking man; his wife, Bonnie;
      his daughter, Nancy; and his son,
      Kenyon. The family were well
      respected and popular—their
      brutal slaying shocked the
      community. A local man said they
      were “gentle, kindly people, people
      I knew—murdered.”
      In contrast the two murderers,
      Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry
      Smith, were ex-convicts—misfits
      on parole from the Kansas State
      Penitentiary. Dick’s promise to
      Perry was that they would “blast
      hair all over them walls.” The two
      were caught and arrested in Las
      Vegas on December 30, 1959.
      Capote immersed himself in his
      subject, spending time with friends

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

New Journalism

BEFORE

Early 1900s Investigative

journalists such as Lincoln

Steffens and Ida M. Tarbell

blend literary techniques and

journalism in articles that

expose corrupt business and

government practices.

1962 Journalist Gay Talese

uses interviews, dialogue, and

observation in a factual but

literary article on boxer Joe

Louis in Esquire magazine.

AFTER

1970 Tom Wolfe challenges

traditional journalism with

Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing

the Flak Catchers, reporting in

a lively observational style.

1972 Hunter S. Thompson

publishes the drug-fueled Fear

and Loathing in Las Vegas, the

genesis of “gonzo journalism,”

in which the writer plays an

integral part in the story.

I thought that Mr. Clutter

was a very nice gentleman ...

I thought so right up to the

moment that I cut his throat.

In Cold Blood

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