3. A third paper (three pages, due July 15) on Truman Capote and his contribution to the "New Journalism" movement of the '60s and '70s.
Truman Copote's contribution to the "New Journalism" movement consists, at least, of his work, In Cold Blood. In this work, Capote uses techniques usually found only in fiction writing to tell a true story.
Let us consider what Capote does in this work that is different from what we find in traditional journalism. First, the length of the work. In newspapers we do not find works of great length printed in their entirety. Also, Capote is the omniscent narrator. He describes events from the viewpoints of many characters. Journalists typically do not openly bring even their own viewpoint into a story. Capote alternately develops two plots throughout his novel. One plot is the investigation of the murders, the other is the execution of the crime. In the end the plots merge. This is a device usually limited to fiction writing. It would also do to discuss Capote's use of dialogue and description and how it differs from traditional journalism. Capote interpolates the circumstances and dialogue of events from details he knows to be true to better characterize the individuals in this story. A journalist does not usually have the freedom to do this.
Let us consider what Capote does in this work that is clearly journalism. Capote is writing about an event that happend. He was working on this story before the villians were caught, so at least his account of the capture, trial and confinement of the savage murderers can be termed journalism, in the journal-keeping sense of the word. In Cold Blood is based on interviews with the persons involved, official records and Capote's observation of the events as they happend. Included in the novel are letters, excerpts from journals, transcripts from court proceedings, and psychological evaluations of the criminals. Fiction is not usually so closely based on fact.
dialogue, char development, freedom to describe feelings
This combination of the characteristics of journalism and fiction writing is termed "New Journalism."
Let us look further into the differences between In Cold Blood and traditional journalism.
The length of the work, an incredible difference between journalism and literature at first may seem a fairly superficial difference. But it is the length of most works of literature that allows for many of the differences we see between journalism and literature. A quote mentioned in class describes the difference between fiction and journalism in this way: non-fiction moves horizontally covering the surface details of an event. Good fiction moves vertically taking you deeper and deeper into character and events. The length of In Cold Blood means the work functions in a dimension that most journalism pieces use very little: time. Perhaps the ideal fiction would never end. The longer the work, if it is good, the more and the longer the world of the fiction can be our world. Instead of being told in a paragraph the who, what, where and how of the killing, the reader can experience the killing as it took place, the trial, the execution, the investigation. The length of the fiction allows the writer to take the reader "deeper and deeper into character and events."
The length of the fiction also suggests that a greater length of time was spent on the work than the typical piece of journalism. With In Cold Blood, this certainly was the case. I believe Capote spent six years investigating this story, so that not only did he experience some of the events that he describes, but he spent so much time interviewing the characters he describes and immersing himself in the setting that he became deeply involved with his material. A writer must experience what she writes about in a more emotionally excited way than the everyday person. The writer is excited by what is seemingly a little occurrence or detail, feeling that it is unique and special and vitally important to the life of the story. At the same time, the writer must be able to write about her material. This requires the ability to transform emotion into another form, the written language. This requires at least enough distance from the material to stop and ask, "What is the emotion I try to describe in the terms of the language I speak." The heightened awareness of a writer and distance from the material, in time as well as thought are what make creative writing possible.
Consider your involvement in a love affair...
In In Cold Blood, Capote is the omnicent narrator. He describes the thoughts of most of the characters we are introduced to. A journalist might quote a person on what she said she was thinking, but would never go so far as to describe the thoughts of a person without a "he said" tacked on the end, as Capote often does. This is not a significant difference,