Recently over the last few weeks I have developed an increasing fascinated by eccentric American writer Truman Capote, after being totally blown away after reading his non-fiction novel 'In Cold Blood'.
I purchased this book at an Oxfam book sale at the start of 2nd year for a mere £2.50 after recognising the title from the autobiographical film 'Capote' starring Phillip Seymour-Hoffman which I rented from the university library a year prior. The book sat dorment on my shelf for the best part of six months as I sparsely had any time to read it, however on reading it this summer I was so grateful of my thrifty purchase. The chilling real life tale tells of the brutal unprovoked murder of a well respected Kansan family by two recently released convicts after the unsuccessful robbery of their farm house. The thing that makes the novel so compelling however is that you actually feel a lot of compassion towards the murderers which us unusual. Capote used his journalistic talents to get the complete story from all the people from the town of Holcome as well as the murders side and their pasts.
The thing that really drew me to this story is the circumstances in which it was written. In 2005 the film Capote was released and recieved rave reviews aswel as an Oscar for Hoffman. The story tells of the writing of In Cold Blood. It is somewhat implied in this film that Capote may have fell in love with one of the murders Perry Edward Smith while gathering information on his past, during Smiths time on death row. Strangely enough in 2006 a film called Infamous was released telling the exact same story however with the love story strongly forced upon you.
I found it so odd that two so similar films were to be released only months apart. The latter starring arguably bigger names but receiving little to no publicity.
Capote is probably one of my all time favorite films and probably so because of Hoffmans performance but on discovering Infamous I have become torn as it seems that Toby Jones' performance is by far more true to life as he totally became the character in every way, mimicking facial expressions and his voice to a T. But still, I prefer not to think of the story the way it was told the second time as it seems far too flamboyant and void of the raw emotion shown in Capote as Hoffman shows how his control on prolonging and ending of the murderers life to get his story is emotionally tormenting him.
The story surrounding the gathered information is perhaps more interesting than the final story. Capote created a whole new genre with the non-fiction novel and it is in a way tragic that this was to be his last complete story as some say that he never quite recovered from the depths that he took himself too in writing it. Sadly in 1984 capote died due to a life of alcoholism and a drug fueled lifestyle.
The book and two films are extreamly interesting and even just for comparison sake are worthwhile. I experienced them in this order Capote, In Cold Blood, Capote (just to remind myself), Infamous. However if done in a different order I may have preferred the films differently.
Stephen, I have also had In Cold Blood sitting on my bookshelf for sometime and it is the next book that I will read. What I was attracted to was the length of time Capote spend gathering all aspects of the story (four years!) and, like you said that he formed some sort of love for one of the murderers and although he never wanted his love interest to die, he knew that death row was the inevitable and the only way to finish his book. Did you know that in To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, Capote was the inspiration for the character Dill because he and Lee were lifelong friends :)
ReplyDeleteYeah I read up on that, Harper Lee was also Capotes researcher for In Cold Blood. I recommend you read it and watch the films, there so good. As i said, im not sure what would be the best order to read and watch them tho. Have fun!
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