Hubris: overbearing pride or presumption.
"In Cold Blood" was a literary experiment for Truman Capote. He wanted to write a "nonfiction novel." He felt that he was one of the rare and creative people who actually took journalism seriously. One must wonder is a book, such as "In Cold Blood," actually a novel, a creative work, or journalism. Many have said that the work itself was just a way for Capote to gain recognition and a lot of money. I would have to say that I concur. However, writing this paper will allow me to look at several different parts of this piece.
We can pinpoint several artistic aspects of "In Cold Blood." First, Capote had to make choices about the structure of the book. Capote chose a starting and ending point, and in between, he chose the order and subject matter of the chapters. In the first section, "The Last to See Them Alive," chapters on the activities of the Clutter family alternate with chapters on the preparations for the murder being made by Hickock and Smith. Reading about Nancy Clutter baking an apple pie and then reading about the killers" tattoos creates a montage, contrasting subsequent images to create a specific impression. No newspaper article would have such a creative structure.
The fact that Capote was able to take a factual idea and construe how to make the events into a literary form, proves that he is, indeed talented. However, I want to point out that the duty of a reporter is "a person who investigates and reports or edits news stories." I see that Truman Capote was a writer, no doubt, but I feel that even with his abnormal ability to recall anything said he could not possibly know all of the details that are present in his work. I guess it is one of those "have to see to believe" situations, but I don't understand how he could have kept everything straight. When I write something, I have tons of notes. For the most part, writers have thousands of notes on paper.
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