“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”

 Born: Truman Persons in New Orleans, LA  A lonesome, pensive child  Parents split up, cared for by aunts and uncles; lived next door to Harper Lee in Alabama, who became his best friend  Felt psychologically “abandoned” by his parents. His alcoholic mother seldom visited, except to show off new boyfriends.  Practiced writing “like other children practiced the piano”  By the age of eleven, Capote wrote for three hours every afternoon (“I was obsessed with it”).  Left school at 17 and began work at The New Yorker  A strange child with a high-pitched voice, he became the model for character “Dill” in To Kill a Mockingbird.  Some literary scholars think that Capote “ghost-wrote” To Kill a Mockingbird for Harper Lee. Others argue that Lee wrote most of In Cold Blood.

 Publishes “Miriam” c  Publishes Other Voices, Other Rooms in 1948 (age 24) and becomes famous  Publishes Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1958 (age 34) and cements his status as a celebrity and cultural icon  Seeks to create a new genre, the “non-fiction novel”  Begins work on In Cold Blood in 1959

 Capote invented a new genre, the non-fiction novel  Capote relies on narrative techniques (i.e., voice, dialogue, and pacing) to captivate his audience  Its appearance ushered in a renewed interest in New Journalism which would focus on “ordinary” people and their “everyday” lives  Subjective perspective and a preference for truth rather than facts are hallmarks of New Journalism

“This book was an important event for me. While writing it, I realized I just might have found a solution to what had always been my greatest creative quandary. I wanted to produce a journalistic novel, something on a large scale that would have the credibility of fact, the immediacy of film, the depth and freedom of prose, and the precision of poetry.”

 It began as an article for The New Yorker  Capote corresponded with both Hickock and Smith (the murderers)  He refused to see them on the day of their execution  The process of writing In Cold Blood took its toll on Capote  “No one will ever know what In Cold Blood took out of me. It scraped me right down to the marrow of my bones. It nearly killed me. I think, in a way, it did kill me.”  In Cold Blood was an instant success both commercially and critically  Although some questioned his technique and the fabrication of a few characters and situations in the novel.  When the rights to adapt In Cold Blood to a film were sold, they garnered more than two million dollars in royalties, the highest amount ever paid to a single author

 Setting: Holcomb, Kansas 1959  Capote spent 6 years in Holcomb  Some residents of Holcomb dismiss the work as trash or filth Clutter Home thenClutter Home now

 Herbert Clutter – Father  Wealthy farmer, well-respected  Bonnie Clutter – Wife  Severely depressed, didn’t leave the house much, mental illness had a taboo  Nancy Clutter – Teenage Daughter  “perfect” teenage girl, smart, pretty  Kenyon Clutter – Teenage Son  Well-behaved, independent  Murdered on November 14, 1959  Not killed were two other daughters who no longer lived at home: Eveanna and Beverly

 Perry Smith (left)  Intelligent; large vocabulary  Superstitious; many phobias  Met Dick Hickock in prison  Alcoholic mother had been a rodeo trick rider  Abusive father had tried to start a tourist lodge in Alaska, before it was a state  Parents split up; Perry was placed in orphanage and abused; later lived with father off and on again  Richard Hickock (right)  Blue “dot” tattoo under one eye  Many other tattoos on body  Believed information from Floyd Wells (former Clutter employee) was true about the Clutter family wealth  Planned a way to rob and kill the Clutters

 Bobby Rupp – Nancy’s boyfriend  Susan Kidwell – Nancy’s best friend  Alvin Dewey – Investigator for the KBI  Harold Nye – Assistant Investigator for the KBI  Tex Smith – Perry’s father  Willy-Jay – Assistant chaplain in the Kansas prison  Floyd Wells – Inmate at Kansas prison  Aflred Stoecklein – Herb Clutter’s ranch hand  Bess Hartman – Owners of Hartman’s Café in Holcolmb

 The changing of America – losing our innocence  Mental Illness  Masculinity versus Femininity  Capital Punishment  Family Structure  Victimization as a defense in criminal cases