Truman Capote and the Legacy of ""in Cold Blood

Name: Truman Capote and the Legacy of ""in Cold Blood
SKU: 9780817358310
Price: 569 SEK
Availability: InStock
Author: Ralph F. Voss
ISBN: 9780817358310

Häftad, Engelska, 2015

AvRalph F. Voss

569 kr

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Ralph F. Voss was a high school junior in Plainville, Kansas in mid-November of 1959 when four members of the Herbert Clutter family were murdered in Holcomb, Kansas, by four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives,” an unimaginable horror in a quiet farm community during the Eisenhower years. No one in Kansas or elsewhere could then have foreseen the emergence of Capote’s bookwhich has never gone out of print, has twice been made into a major motion picture, remains required reading in criminology, American Studies, sociology, and English classes, and has been the source of two recent biographical films.Voss examines Capote and In Cold Blood from many perspectives, not only as the crowning achievement of Capote’s career, but also as a story in itself, focusing on Capote’s artfully composed text, his extravagant claims for it as reportage, and its larger status in American popular culture.Voss argues that Capote’s publication of In Cold Blood in 1966 forever transcended his reputation as a first-rate stylist but second-rate writer of Southern gothic” fiction; that In Cold Blood actually is a gothic novel, a sophisticated culmination of Capote’s artistic development and interest in lurid regionalism, but one that nonetheless eclipsed him both personally and artistically. He also explores Capote’s famous claim that he created a genre called the non-fiction novel,” and its status as a foundational work of true crime” writing as practiced by authors ranging from Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer to James Ellroy, Joe McGinniss, and John Berendt.Voss also examines Capote’s artful manipulation of the story’s facts and circumstances: his masking of crucial homoerotic elements to enhance its marketability; his need for the killers to remain alive long enough to get the story, and then his need for them to die so that he could complete it; and Capote’s style, his shaping of the narrative, and his selection of detailswhy it served him to include this and not that, and the effects of such choicesall despite confident declarations that every word is true.”Though it’s been nearly 50 years since the Clutter murders and far more gruesome crimes have been documented, In Cold Blood continues to resonate deeply in popular culture. Beyond questions of artistic selection and claims of truth, beyond questions about capital punishment and Capote’s own post-publication dissolution, In Cold Blood’s ongoing relevance stems, argues Voss, from its unmatched role as a touchstone for enduring issues of truth, exploitation, victimization, and the power of narrative.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2015-03-15
Mått152 x 229 x 20 mm
Vikt408 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor260
FörlagThe University of Alabama Press
ISBN9780817358310

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“In emphasizing legacies, [Voss] spotlights Capote’s great achievement in producing the novel, despite the gossip surrounding its creation. The most damning of the legacies was celebrity, i.e., Capote’s need for it. . . . Well documented with endnotes, black-and-white photographs, and a thorough bibliography. Recommended.”—CHOICE“A new book by Ralph L. Voss, Truman Capote and the Legacy of ‘In Cold Blood,’ draws on previous literary forensics and his own scholarship to demonstrate Capote’s shocking faithlessness to the truth.”—Reuters|“The most useful volume yet written on this remarkable cultural intersection of American literary genius and real-life prairie horror. Truman Capote and the Legacy of ‘In Cold Blood’ is the best companion volume imaginable for Capote's astonishing book.”—Kansas History"Truman Capote and the Legacy of 'In Cold Blood' elevates scholarship to the level of fan fiction (or vice versa), marking itself as a significant part of the legacy it describes. Voss’s book is a must-read for those who value Capote’s groundbreaking work."—Rain Taxi“Truman Capote and the Legacy of 'In Cold Blood' is a riveting, finely written psychological/literary analysis, combined with meticulous historical research, by a Kansas native. Ralph Voss’s subject is the context, creation, and impact of Capote’s book. Voss’s approach is an honest investigation into the very processes of investigation—by law enforcement in Kansas and by Capote the writer—as well as the creative processes of those influenced by In Cold Blood to contribute to American popular culture.”—Claudia Durst Johnson, author Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents|“The book is especially well written. Perhaps no other work of modern literary journalism has received as much critical attention as In Cold Blood, so I found it interesting that this book provided an entertaining view of the subject and a thorough review of the materials.”—Norman Sims, author of True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism and Literary Journalism in the Twentieth Century“As we have just passed the forty-fifth anniversary of the publication of In Cold Blood, readers continue to be fascinated by Truman Capote and his self-avowed masterpiece. Now Ralph Voss has written the first full-length critical treatment of the book, focusing on the methods Capote employed in writing it, on the continuing questions about its genre and themes, and on the tremendous effect the book has had in Kansas and beyond. Combining the skills of an accomplished cultural and literary critic with an intimate knowledge of the Kansas setting of the book, Voss shows us how this book paradoxically represents both the pinnacle of Capote’s literary career and the beginning of a tragic period of artistic and personal failure. Voss’s excellent study will undoubtedly take its place alongside other essential books on Capote.”—Norman McMillan, author of “Against a Copper Sky,” a play about Truman Capote