Fact or Fiction? “These people must be piping it, winging it, making up the dialogue … Christ, maybe they’re making up whole scenes, the unscrupulous geeks ..”(Keenan, 2014). Tom Wolfe made this statement back in 1973 when there was an uproar against the up and coming “New Journalism”. This literary movement is when courageous authors want to try something different from the norm. This phrase was coined by Matthew Arnold in the attempt to make a new genre of newspaper history. When that plan backfired, Tom Wolfe changed the meaning. Now it is known to be when authors take a nonfiction topic and weave in literary devices to make it a fiction work. Wolfe and other popular writers during the 1960’s-1970’s participated in the movement, yet Truman Capote stood out above the rest. He changed a factual murder story into a fictional novel by using “New Journalism”, literary devices, and ending up changing the face of fiction novels altogether. “New Journalism” was not an initial hit for the public. Most felt that it was ruining perfectly good literature by emphasizing truth over facts. Capote was bold in his efforts to publish a novel with this style in mind. When Truman Capote first found out about the murder of the Clutter family he was instantly intrigued. He went out to Kansas and followed every step of the investigation and interviewed close family members to even the murderers themselves. This

shocked the world because no one had ever interviewed those involved to get the facts straight and to understand what truly happened instead of inferring. Still many did not want to have anything to do with the interchanging of fiction and nonfiction. Dwight Macdonald was one of the United States’ most prominent postwar intellectual and staff writer for the New Yorker in 1951. He was not a fan of “New Journalism” and he did not mind to speak his mind. He once said “It is a bastard form, having it both ways, exploiting the factual authority of journalism and the atmospheric license of fiction. Entertainment rather than information is the aim of its producers, and the hope of its consumers.”(MacDonald, 1965). This was written in his article called Parajournalism, or Tom Wolfe & His Magic Writing Machine in 1965. Truman Capote and other authors still trudged on and ended up making literary masterpieces that are still well known today. Normally in a nonfictional novel there is no use of literary devices because it is not needed in the eyes of most. A nonfiction work is supposed to be cold hard facts and they should not be tampered with. The reason why In Cold Blood obtained so much hatred was because Truman Capote wanted to turn a factual event and make it into a novel. He added in irony, foreshadowing, and imagery as well as many more literary tools. The use of irony is shown throughout especially before and after the murder of the Clutters. “It was then Nancy went through her beauty routine, a cleansing, creaming ritual, which on Saturday nights included washing her hair. Tonight, having dried and brushed her hair and bound it in a gauzy bandanna, she set out the clothes she intended to wear to church the next morning: nylons, black pumps, a red velveteen dress--her prettiest, which she herself had made. It was the dress in which she was

to be buried."(Capote pg 56, 2001). This was highly ironic because not only was she laying out her dress for the next day for church, she was also laying out the dress of which she would be buried in. This was not in her initial intentions. The innocence of her Sunday dress would be ruined later on that night and she never had a clue that is was coming. Literary devices helped to show the true feelings of what was happening and the later reactions. With all of the different tools used to simply investigating his potential characters, Truman Capote definitely changed the face of literature forever. He combined different aspects of each genre of literature and made them into one novel. No one had ever successfully done that before. After the book was released, everyone ended up thinking differently about “New Journalism”. They all realized that all in all it brought a true story even more to life. David Remnick said, “Truman Capote was "a writer of brilliance, capable of economic, evocative prose. His technique was mature, professional in the best possible sense.”(Capote, 2000) Also Tony Tanner remarked, "It is the American dream turning into the American nightmare by juxtaposing and dovetailing the lives and values of the Clutters and those of the killers, Capote produces a stark image of the deep doubleness of American life. A remarkable book.”(Capote, 2000). Everyone came to the realization that the use of “New Journalism” was truly not a mistake.
Truman Capote is now seen as a successful daring author. He did not care what those around him said about what he was trying to accomplish. He persevered and ended up having a best seller that people were literally chasing after the delivery trucks for. Capote changed the face of fiction and nonfiction works forever and now future authors have the opportunity to not

only follow in his footsteps with using “New Journalism”, but also gathering up the courage to try something new.

Bibliography

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences. London: Penguin, 2000. Print.

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. S.l.: Knopf Doubleday Group, 2001. Print.

Keenan, John. "Truman Capote and the Old Failings of New Journalism." Www.theguardian.com. The Guardian, 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 2015.

MacDonald, Dwight. "Parajournalism, or Tom Wolfe & His Magic Writing Machine." Www.nybooks.com. NY Books, 26 Aug. 1965. Web. 2015.