Title: In Cold Blood
Genre: “Faction” Novel
Year: 1966
Pages: 330
Origin: bought in a second-hand book-shop
Nod Rating: 4 nods out of 5
Faction was once all the rage. Have no clue at what the word means? It is a novel – chiefly that of literature – that contains facts connected to the real world; a non-fiction novel. Truman Capote’s name is forever connected to this genre of writing, and the Worm thought it best to read In Cold Blood to find out what all the fuss was about.
It is a story like any other crime novel. It contains victims and murderers, with the eventual justice of the law prevailing. The case was that of the death of the Clutters, a family of farmers in Kansas. One night in 1959 their home was invaded by two men – Dick Hicock and Perry Smith – who wrongly believed there was money to be found on the premises. They kill each of the family members (the two parents as well as daughter and son) before fleeing from the house. After weeks of moving around the country – and Mexico – they are eventually caught and sentenced to death. Just one in many other incidents that have occurred, but for Capote, his eye was caught by these people, and he would spend the next six years of his life writing his eventual book that would attempt to retell the story to the world..
The book’s subtitle - ‘A true account of a multiple murder and its consequences’ – therefore outlines its remit: to stick to the facts. Therefore a vast collection was gathered to help him, including testimonies, interviews, letters, court notes, notebooks (including ‘a non-alphabetically listed miscellany of words he believed “beautiful” or “useful” or least “worth memorising”), and assorted reports (such as Perry’s father’s written report to the Kansas State Parole Board, ‘A History of My Boy’s Life’).
All of this shows Capote to be a thorough researcher, enabling him portray those in the book as a rounded people that the reader can relate to. We gain a greater insight and possible understanding of their motivations and the sort of people they are. Capote doesn’t flirt with the idea of forgiving the pair for their actions, but the time he expends on the characters on death row with Smith and Hicock – including the details of the trail and the intriguing example of Lowell Lee – suggests that the author is critical about the death penalty. Such a hint can be found in a conversation:
‘Parr said, “Many a man can match sob stories with that little bastard. Me included. Maybe I drink too much, but I sure as hell never killed four people in cold blood.”The time spent on Perry and Dick’s travelling after the deaths of the Clutters paints a colourful human picture of the pair of them; all of which can be inferred by the paragraph noting the fortunes of Perry’s friend whilst on death row: a squirrel. ‘He sure misses Perry. Keeps coming to the cell looking for him. I’ve tried to feed him, but he won’t have anything to do with me. It was just Perry he liked.’
“Yeah, and how about hanging the bastard? That’s pretty goddam cold-blooded too.”’
The book is strongest when it quotes the comments of others, such as the description by police officers of finding the murdered bodies of the Clutters in their home, as well as Susan’s recollection of her murdered friend, Nancy Clutter:
‘I went outside and waited in the car… Across the street a man was raking leaves. I kept looking at him. Because I didn’t’ want to close my eyes. I thought, if I do I’ll faint. So I watched him rake leaves and burn them. Watched, without really seeing him. Because all I could see was the dress. I knew it so well. I helped her pick the material. It was her own design, and she sewed it herself. I remember how excited she was the first time she wore it. At a party. All I could see was Nancy’s red velvet. And Nancy in it. Dancing.’Therefore, the reader must remember that these words are not the invention or talent of Capote, but rather those of his interviewees. The contrast is striking if we include a short sample of Capote’s own standard descriptive prose, which at times is very dull:
‘Some souvenirs exist; a moderately colourful row of commercial buildings is known as the Buffalo Rock, and the once splendid Winsor Hotel, with its still splendid high-ceilinged saloon and its atmosphere of spittoons and potted palms, endures amid the variety stores and supermarkets as a Main Street landmark…’A larger question mark grows throughout the book: how much is fiction and how much is fact? The success of the book in the mid-sixties brought about a stream of articles disputing Capote’s version of events in the books, therefore clouding the subtitle’s claim to be ‘a true account’. New research and interviews with some of the key people involved revealed discrepancies, with Phillip K. Tompkins concluding that Capote ‘has made himself vulnerable to those readers who are prepared to examine seriously such a sweeping claim’. All of which destroys any credibility the book can have as a work of Faction.
Clearly, the strengths of the book do not lie in Capote’s descriptive prose or in his ability (or is that inability?) to tell the truth. Furthermore, Capote breaks the writer’s “rule” about the author remaining invisible to the reader; his influence throughout In Cold Blood feels intrusive. One can never shake his presence lurking behind the unfolding the story, bending the facts to suit his needs. However, despite such failings, the Worm is adamant that this is an interesting and engaging book. Capote’s success is not in his own ability to string a sentence, but rather as an editor of material and comments. The testimonies of many characters are put together in a sensible order that, at times, resembles a thriller (the last two hundred pages of the book fly by in an enjoyable torrent of a read). It is better, then, to view Capote not as an author in the mould of other American writers before him but rather as the conductor of a crime scene of an opera.
Despite a few standout successes, faction is no longer the rage. Perhaps this is a good thing. It is not a case of “never the twain shall meet”, but rather the Worm’s belief that fact and fiction work better when working independently. Yes, fictional elements can help brighten up a narrative account of history – and has done fantastically in various books – but this should not detract from the history book’s first mission: to find/debate as much of the truth as possible. Here in Capote’s book the reader is left slightly confused as to what is fiction and what is fact, blurring the independence of each sphere and spewing forth its abrasive, brash offspring: Faction. Despite the condemnation of the veracity of his work, In Cold Blood remains an exciting read; if we are to ignore the worst and concentrate on the best, we must agree that it allow us to question our beliefs and values on the crime of murder.
Buy it here
