{"product_id":"truman-capote-and-the-legacy-of-in-cold-blood-9780817317560","title":"Truman Capote and the Legacy of \"In Cold Blood\"","description":"\u003cp\u003eRalph 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 Capotes 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 Capotes career  but also as a story in itself  focusing on Capotes artfully composed text  his extravagant claims for it as reportage  and its larger status in American popular culture.  Voss argues that Capotes 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 Capotes artistic development and interest in lurid regionalism  but one that nonetheless eclipsed him both personally and artistically. He also explores Capotes 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 Capotes artful manipulation of the storys 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 Capotes 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 its 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 Capotes own post-publication dissolution  In Cold Bloods ongoing relevance stems  argues Voss  from its unmatched role as a touchstone for enduring issues of truth  exploitation  victimization  and the power of narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45273973293109,"sku":"ByrdShop_0817317562","price":240.36,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780817317560.jpg?v=1780492651","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/truman-capote-and-the-legacy-of-in-cold-blood-9780817317560","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}