‘It is the American dream turning into the American nightmare … By juxtaposing and dovetailing the lives and values of the Clutters and those of the killers, Capote produces a stark image of the deep doubleness of American life … a remarkable book’ Spectator. On the night of 15 November 1959, a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children were murdered in their home — a crime so apparently motiveless that it would haunt an entire community and consume Truman Capote for the better part of a decade. The result was In Cold Blood, the controversial and compelling work published in Penguin Modern Classics that is widely regarded as a seminal achievement of modern prose: a remarkable synthesis of journalistic rigour and powerfully evocative narrative that gave rise to the ‘non-fiction novel’ as a form. Capote’s comprehensive reconstruction of the murders and their aftermath places at its centre the two young killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock — reprehensible yet entirely, frighteningly human as Capote draws them, vividly and without flinching. The book explores not only the circumstances of the crime and its investigation, but the lasting effect of both on all those caught in their wake. Truman Capote (1924–84) was born in New Orleans. He left school at fifteen and went on to work for The New Yorker in what would prove his only regular employment. His output spanned fiction and non-fiction alike — short stories, novels, novellas, travel writing, reportage, memoirs, plays and films — and his other works include Music for Chameleons (1980) and Answered Prayers (1986), both available in Penguin Modern Classics. If you enjoyed In Cold Blood, you might also like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs’ And the Hippos were Boiled in their Tanks, likewise available in Penguin Modern Classics.
ISBN 13: 9780141182575
Author: Truman Capote
