Capote-an Readings

[selenak]

In my review of the film “Capote” I mentioned that one of its many virtues is that it makes you want to read books. Having now read Capote’s In Cold Blood, Gerald Clarke’s biography Capote (on which the majority of the film is based) and Capotes letters, I also think it’s a great illustration on how you distill various textual sources into a new

Comments

[bwinter]

And now your analysis is making me want to read the books and see the movie. It all sounds refreshingly intellectual in a way that actually assumes the readers have a handful of brains between them. Thank you for piqueing my curiosity ;)

[selenak]

It is, and yes, none of them "downtalk" to the audience in the way this is usually done.

[buffyannotater]

I found it very interesting, near the end of the book, in one of the scenes on Death Row, how Capote referred to an unnamed journalist visiting Perry. While reading, it struck me as the only point where he seemed to have run out of options in presenting the scene he wanted while keeping himself completely out of the narrative. Because it clearly had to be him.

What contributes to the disturbing power of this particular story as rendered by Capote to this day is, I think, that it does not have a clear agenda in the way stories about murders and sentenced killers usually do. It’s not a book written against the death penalty. Its very premise is that Smith and Hickock were guilty as charged (Smith for the actual shootings, Hickock for the planning and aiding during the shootings). It doesn’t try to exonorate anyone, I do agree with the lack of a clear agenda in the bulk of the novel itself. At the same time, though, the way I read it, I think he did believe that at least Perry (if not both of them) was mentally ill and should have been

[selenak]

At the same time, though, the way I read it, I think he did believe that at least Perry (if not both of them) was mentally ill and should have been on a psychiatric ward rather than Death Row.

It's hard to say because the only definite statements you have while they were still alive (and said to someone other than them) is that he didn't think they should be set free (when one of their later lawyers, somewhat deludedly optimistic, said to him they might be out of jail entirely, Capote writes in a letter that he thought "yes, and I hope you're the first one they bump off, you idiot"). Later on, someone point blank asked him whether he had liked them and he replied "It wasn't a question of liking them any more than I like myself. I knew them as I know myself." Make of that what you will.

it really struck me how almost creepily manipulative Capote was of Smith and Hickock.Though as I wrote in my review of the movie, it works both ways - undoubtedly they originally gave him access and interviews because they thought he would sway

[buffyannotater]

It seems like in his depiction of Dewey's total immersion and obsession with the case, Capote was also indirectly referring to himself.

[selenak]

Definitely. Janet Malcolm in her excellent The Silent Woman reflects that every biography is also autobiography in parts, and all the more so when done by such a skillful writer.

[likeadeuce]

Great post -- I need to pick up some of these books. I love the excerpts you quoted. I think I'm in love with this sentence -- especially the use of the parentheses at the end:

Liquor had blurred the face, swollen the figure of the once sinewy, limber Cherokee girl, had soured her soul, honed her tongue to the wickedest point, so dissolved her self-respect that generally she did not bother to ask the names of the stevedores and trolley-car conductors and such persons who accepted what she offered without charge (except that she insisted they drink with her first, and dance to the tunes of a wind-up Victrola.)

In case you didn't see, buffyannotater made an interesting post re: online resources about ICB.

[selenak]

I'm not sure I agree with Norman Mailer that Capote was the most perfect writer of their generation, but he certainly was masterful...

Yes, thanks, I've seen it.