Hello Raven Juniors!
In the fall, you will embark on a challenging and highly rewarding course in AP Language and
Composition, at the end of which you may earn college credit with the successful completion of the
AP exam. That begins with the summer assignment, which is outlined in this packet. Your AP teachers
look forward to challenging you and facilitating your gro wth as academic learners, astute readers, and
productive writers.
However, much like a car can't sit in the garage or driveway for an extended period of time and be
expected to run just as smoothly as if it had been driven frequently, you can't expect to "sit" all
summer and then to jump into the school year in the fall with as much energy for learning as you
have when you are attending school. Cars that are driven moderately and that are regularly tuned up
perform better than cars driven intermittently without maintenance. So you need a break from the
active learning in school, yet you need and to get "tuned up" as well. That's what the summer reading
is about. This outside reading with which we challenge AP students is meant to help keep the "gears"
working while you are "idling" over the summer. It is an exercise to keep you thinking and
academically oriented while you are relaxing, so that when you return to school you won't be like that
car sitting in the garage, gathering dust. You will be reading som ething we hope you can understand
without much instruction that may enhance your appreciation of narrative nonfiction and
understanding of the human condition.
This kind of reading differs from the pleasure reading you are apt to do while you are passing time.
Even though you won't be in school, you are reading for an instructional purpose, and it will serve you
best if you regard your reading endeavor as a "schoolish" activity. Your level of engagement, then,
will necessarily be different from that of the reading you do for pleasure. The only similarity between
the two types of reading just mentioned is that you will be on your own, away from the classroom.
You will need to read closely, ask yourself questions about what you read, take notes of details an d
plot elements, check for understanding—in short, be actively engaged in your reading.
_________________________________________________________________
TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL SUMMER ASSIGNMENT:
1. This summer, you will be reading and studying In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
2. VISIT STUDENT SERVICES SOMETIME BETWEEN 9 am - 3 pm MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THIS
SUMMER TO OBTAIN SIX (6) SELECTED AP MULTIPLE CHOICE PASSAGES.
3. Capote’s book is organized in four parts, and this packet outlines the tasks re quired for successful
completion of each section.
4. Follow a schedule!! This packet outlines a possible work plan to ensure that these studies are
completed without ever feeling overwhelming. A disciplined student should be able to manage
these tasks by reading and studying (on average) just an hour each day.
5. For each task you have been assigned, directions and examples can be found in this packet. Please
read all instructions carefully and thoroughly. These will help you locate the material needed for
your success.
Still have questions? Contact LuAnn Fox at lfoxonw@olatheschools.org
or Jeff Fouquet at jfouquetonw@olatheschools.org.
You can also come to our “Help Night,” August 5, from 5-7 PM in the ONW library.
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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Have questions about…?
TERMS AND TONE JOURNAL
Directions:
AP Language and Composition is a course heavy in specialized terminology. Not only do these
terms deepen your powers of description and analysis (both required on the AP exam),
but they also lend precision to the arguments you make. Your “terms and tone”
entries should all be typed and neatly formatted in one document, and each entry
should have ALL three of the following components.
For each word listed under the “Terms and Tone Journal” heading, you will:
1) write a definition of the term or tone word in your own words
2) provide an example
3) illustrate how that term or tone is used or what effect it creates
Sample entry:
Inverted syntax is a physical arrangement of words in a sentence such that the verb comes
before the subject, as in "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" from Tolkien's The
Hobbit. Sometimes the object comes before the subject, as in ‘I admire.' Inversions are
used to achieve stylistic effects like putting an emphasis on a particular point or
changing the form of a particular point.
____________________________________________________________________________
DIALECTICAL JOURNALS
Directions:
In some of the following sections, you will be asked to cite and comment on passages from
the book. Please use quotation marks and page numbers for the passages you cite, and please
analyze, think deeply, and build meaning when reacting or responding to your chosen text.
These exercises are meant to help you use some of the terms you will be learning, in addition
to helping you practice making and defending claims in an academic tone.
Here’s an example (not taken from In Cold Blood)
Quotation and page #
“…as I glanced back at him standing
alone in the middle of the crossing, he
looked as if the world itself was slung
around his neck.” (page 49)
Reaction/Response
Now I feel certain that Jeremy is portrayed as a
Christ-figure symbol. He is kind-hearted, sensitive
and the author has him in the middle of the
“crossing” with the world’s weight upon him.
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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TONE PARAGRAPH RESPONSES
Directions:
In some of the following sections, you will be asked to write a response that justifies or explains the
selection you made on one of the assigned multiple-choice questions. These responses should be one
paragraph long and are meant to help you establish the habit of making a claim, providing textual evidence for
the claim, and then analyzing the connection between the evidence and the claim you made. In your classes,
this will be called, claim-evidence-analysis or perhaps terms-text-analysis.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Sample question from AP Multiple Choice
The following passage is from page 55 of Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood:
Dick waited, ate some jelly beans, impatiently gunned the motor, sounded the horn. Was it possible that he had
misjudged Perry’s character? That Perry, of all people, was suffering a sudden case of “blood bubbles”? A year ago, when
they first encountered each other, he’d thought Perry “a good guy,” if a bit “stuck on himself,” “sentimental,” too much “the
dreamer.” He had liked him but not considered him especially worth cultivating until, one day, Perry described a murder,
telling how, simply for “the hell of it,” he had killed a colored man in Las Vegas—beaten him to death with a bicycle chain.
The anecdote elevated Dick’s opinion of Little Perry; he began to see more of him, and, like Willie-Jay, though for dissimilar
reasons, gradually decided that Perry possessed unusual and valuable qualities. Several murderers, or men who boasted of
murder or their willingness to commit it, circulated inside Lansing; but Dick became convinced that Perry was the rarity, “a
natural killer”—absolutely sane, but conscienceless, and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldest-blooded
deathblows. It was Dick’s theory that such a gift could, under his supervision, be profitable exploited. Having reached this
conclusion, he had proceeded to woo Perry, flatter him—pretend, for example, that he believed all the buried-treasure stuff
and shared his beachcomber yearnings and seaport longings, none of which appealed to Dick, who wanted “a regular life,”
with a business of his own, a home, a horse to ride, a new car, and “plenty of blond chicken.” It was important, however,
that Perry not suspect this—not until Perry, with his gift, had helped further Dick’s ambitions. But perhaps it was Dick who
had miscalculated, been duped; if so—if it developed that Perry was, after all, only an “ordinary punk”—then “the party”
was over, the months of planning were wasted, there was nothing to do but turn and go. It mustn’t happen; Dick returned
to the station.
23. In the description of Dick’s assessment of Perry, Dick is presented as primarily
A. cold-blooded
B. opportunistic
C. idealistic
D. suggestible
E. irrational
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Model of Desired Student Response:
In the description of Dick’s assessment of Perry, Dick is
This student’s paragraph opens with a
presented as primarily opportunistic. Capote asserts that
clear claim that answers the question.
Dick had “not considered [Perry] worth cultivating” until
Perry’s anecdote of a murder he committed “for the hell of
Next, the student includes textual
it” causes Dick to see an advantage. It “elevated” Perry’s
evidence that supports his claim that
worth to Dick, as Perry, a “natural killer,” could deal the
Dick believes he can benefit from Perry’s
“coldest-blooded deathblows” with no qualms. The diction
violent nature.
of “valuable” and “gift” to describe Perry’s ability reveal how
much Dick prizes what he hopes he can “profitably exploit.”
The paragraph closes with more analysis
Dick will use Perry to commit murder to further his own
of the text and restates the writer’s
materialistic dreams. His pretending to go along with
main idea in new language.
Perry’s vision of seaports and beachcombing further
illustrates that he is waiting to take advantage of him.
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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Part I: The Last to See Them Alive
Complete by June 15th
1. Read pages 1-74 of In Cold Blood.
2. Terms and Tone Journal (see instructions on page 2)
Inverted syntax
Non sequitur
Sentence fragment
Sentimental
Idiomatic expression
Poignant
Point of view (shift)
Maudlin
Parallel structure
Ominous
Concrete details
Pathos
Irony
Ethos
Foreshadowing
Logos
Syntax
Tone
Imagery
Local color
Poetic license
Verisimilitude
Opportunistic
Irrational
3. AP Multiple Choice Passages
Complete passage 2. Each asks questions about the reading passages found in Part I of the novel.
Be sure to reference your terms and tone journal to help you through the more challenging
questions.
4. Tone Paragraph Response (see instructions on page 3)
No tone paragraph is required.
5. Dialectical Journal (see instructions on page 2)
Complete the chart below.
Specific Textual Evidence:
Quote the passage and page number
Provide at least one specific adjective to
describe Capote's attitude toward the given
subject. Explain how the text demonstrates
that is the author’s attitude.
1. Find at least one
passage that describes
Capote's attitude
toward the town of
Holcomb.
2. Find at least one
passage that describes
Capote's attitude
toward the Clutter
Family (collectively or
Individual members).
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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Part II: Persons Unknown
Complete by June 30th
1. Read pages 77-155 of In Cold Blood.
2. Terms and Tone Journal (see instructions on page 2)
Dispassionate
Anecdote
Pedantic
Apostrophe
Incredulous (credulous)
Rhetorical question
Affable
Mercurial
Sanguine
3. AP Multiple Choice Passages
Complete passage 4. Each asks questions about the reading passages found in Part II of the
novel. Be sure to reference your terms and tone journal to help you through the more
challenging questions.
4. Tone Paragraph Response (see instructions on page 3)
AP Multiple Choice question #24. Please prepare in a word document, MLA formatted, ready
to be submitted to turnitin.com upon your return to school. You will add your other paragraph
responses to this document.
5. Dialectical Journal (see instructions on page 2)
Complete the chart below.
Specific Textual Evidence:
Quote the passage and page number
Provide at least one specific adjective to
describe Capote's attitude toward the given
subject. Explain how the text demonstrates
that is the author’s attitude.
1. Choose either Dick
or Perry (not both).
Now, find at least two
passages that
describes Capote's
attitude about the
character you chose.
2. Find at least one
passage that
describes Capote's
attitude toward the
relationship between
Dick and Perry.
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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Part III:
Part
III:Answer
Answer
th
Complete by
by July
July 15
15th
Complete
1. Read pages 159-248 of In Cold Blood.
2. Terms and Tone Journal (see instructions on page 2)
Parallel syntax
Solicitous
Passive voice
Sordid
Callous(ness)
Pessimistic
Joviality
Jaded
Disingenuous
Swaggering
Impartial
Credulous
Disdainful
Allusion
Euphemism
Metaphor
Juxtaposition
Synecdoche
Litotes
Personification
Ambivalent
3. AP Multiple Choice Passages
Complete passages 6 and 8. Each asks questions about the reading passages found in Part III
of the novel. Be sure to reference your terms and tone journal to help you through the more
challenging questions.
4. Tone Paragraph Response (see instructions on page 3)
AP Multiple Choice question #55. Please add to the same word document you prepared for
the previous responses. All tone paragraph responses should be in one document.
5. Dialectical Journal (see instructions on page 2)
Complete the chart below.
Quotation (page #)
Find a quote from the text that:
a. demonstrates the effective use of a literary device,
b. reveals something significant about a character,
c. reveals an important characteristic of style, OR
d. may hit the reader with some emotional force.
Reactions/Responses
Write an academic response to your chosen text that:
a. analyzes the effect of words or details chosen by the author,
b. compares the text to another passage from another section,
c. interprets the significance of a challenging passage, OR
d. considers what the quote say about all people and humanity
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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Part IV:
Corner
Part
IV:The
The
Corner
th
Complete by
by July
July 30
30th
Complete
1. Read pages 251-343 of In Cold Blood.
2. Terms and Tone Journal (see instructions on page 2)
Mendacious
Egregious
Scathing
Pragmatic
Disinterested
Bombastic
Appalled
Caustic
Wry
Flippant
Foreshadowing
Jubilant
Hyperbole
Gleeful
Anaphora
Symbolic
Barbaric
Antipathy
Bandwagon appeal
Pathetic fallacy
Ad hominem
Laudatory
Contemptuous
Nonchalant
Incongruity
Trite(ness)
Patronizing
3. AP Multiple Choice Passages
Complete passages 10 and 11. Each asks questions about the reading passages found in Part
IV of the novel. Be sure to reference your terms and tone journal to help you through the
more challenging questions.
4. Tone Paragraph Response (see instructions on page 3)
AP Multiple Choice question #84. Please add to the same word document you prepared for
the previous responses. All tone paragraph responses should be in one document.
5. Preparation for Synthesis Essay
Immediately following this page, there is a prompt for a synthesis essay as well as five
print texts and two visuals (non-print texts) that you will be using to think, discuss, and write
about Capote’s novel. Read the prompt and each piece carefully, considering its relation to In Cold
Blood. Annotate, highlight, underline, and question as needed. We will use these sources to construct
a synthesis essay together upon the return to school. You will receive a grade for your annotations,
so please be thorough and thoughtful.
Source A (Lee)
Source B (Jensen)
Source C (Shaw)
Source D (Gioia)
Source E (Shah and Pilkington)
Source F (Venn Diagram)
Source G (Photo)
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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In Cold Blood
Verisimilitude Synthesis Essay Preview and Annotations
Introduction:
Author Truman Capote has been a controversial figure for decades. His most well-known work, In Cold Blood,
has drawn controversy as well. While this work has been praised for its artful descriptions, dialogue, and
character sketches, it has been criticized for distorting and ignoring some facts. Capote proclaimed he
employed journalistic techniques to tell the story of a true case, the murder of a Kansas farm family, and in so
doing, created a new genre: the nonfiction novel. The work can be classified as great in many respects, and it
earned Capote and the case itself enduring fame. Yet some believe the distortions and manipulations of the
facts of the case do not warrant its place as a prize or model of American literature. Indeed, some question
Capote’s motives for employing his process. This has given rise to controversy over the same types of
breaches in more recent truth-telling works, such as James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces and Greg Mortensen’s
Three Cups of Tea.
Assignment:
Carefully read the accompanying six documents examining the dilemma mentioned above, considering your
own reading of In Cold Blood, as well. Evaluate the pros and the cons of relating a true story in a less than
truthful, factual way. Annotate, highlight, underline, and question each document as needed. We will use
these sources to construct a synthesis essay together upon the return to school. When we return, you will be
asked to synthesize information from at least three of the sources and incorporate it into a coherent, welldeveloped essay that takes and explains a position regarding to what extent it matters, especially today, for
authors to relate true incidents without alteration.
You will receive a grade for your annotations, so please be thorough and thoughtful.
When you write the essay (upon returning to school), make sure that your argument is central; use the sources
to illustrate and support your reasoning. Avoid merely summarizing the sources. Indicate clearly which sources
you are drawing from, whether through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary. You may cite the sources as
Source A, Source B, etc., or by using the descriptions in parentheses.
Source A (Lee)
Source B (Jensen)
Source C (Shaw)
Source D (Gioia)
Source E (Shah and Pilkington)
Source F (Venn Diagram)
Source G (Photo)
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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Article A
Melissa Lee. “High school sweetheart recalls the day his life changed forever: Bob Rupp maintains resilient
spirit through years of living with memories.” The Lawrence Journal-World. Sunday, April 3, 2005
In 45 years, Rupp, now 61, hasn't publicly discussed the book or the murders, despite hundreds of interview
requests from around the world. He wasn't fond of Capote and gets irritated by reporters nosing into his
private life. The past is the past, he says with quiet firmness.
But he's never forgotten, he adds in a voice that's a hint thicker--the girl he so loved, the family he so adored.
And now, Bob Rupp--husband, father of four, grandfather, Holcomb farmer all his life -- is, for the first time,
ready to share his story.
...
Larry [Bob’s brother] recalls hearing a knock at the bedroom door. His father, flanked by Clarence Ewalt, a
family friend and the father of one of Nancy's best friends, appeared in the doorframe. Larry could see tears on
both men's cheeks.
"There's been a tragedy," both Rupp brothers remember Ewalt saying. "They're dead. The Clutters are dead.
We found them..."
"No. No. This can't happen," Bob Rupp remembers thinking frantically. "You read about this stuff. It doesn't
happen here. Not in Holcomb."
As Larry Rupp remembers that day, his older brother--never one for outbursts--threw the Browning [the gun
he was cleaning] on the floor. Bob has never touched a gun since.
The boys were in shock. The elder vowed to drive to the Clutter farm right then and there. Ewalt advised
against it, saying, "They're not alive anymore, Bobby." He offered nothing else. Didn't say anything about the
gruesome scene he, his daughter and another girl had discovered that morning. Didn't say how each of the
Clutters had been shot at point-blank range--Herb first, then Kenyon, Nancy and Bonnie. Didn't say what
nobody yet knew--that before Nancy was shot, she'd said, "Please don't," then turned to the wall when she
realized what was about to happen.
Bobby drove anyway, Larry accompanying--even though "In Cold Blood" says the boys ran the three miles to
the Clutter farm. It's a discrepancy that still stands out to those close to Rupp: family friends, Coleen, even
Larry, who hasn't read the book but knows where Capote erred.
AP.Lang.SA.2015
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Article B
Van Jensen. “Writing history: Capote’s novel has lasting effect on journalism.” The Lawrence Journal-World.
Sunday, April 3, 2005
This is half of the legacy of Capote's great book. Published in 1965, it helped show journalists the possibility of
using creative writing techniques while holding to the guidelines of journalism, something now commonly seen
not only in books but also in magazines and newspapers--where many view the style as crucial to keeping
readers.
But in writing the book, Capote blurred the line between truth and untruth, despite his claims of impeccable
accuracy. His embellishments -- which vary from allegedly misquoting people to making composite characters
to ending the book with a scene that never happened--have bred ill will from some in the book who felt falsely
portrayed and distrust from readers who, upon learning of Capote's changes, are left to wonder where reality
ends and fiction begins.
...
But, with "In Cold Blood" about to turn 40 years old, those leading the movement once known as "new
journalism" agree that the book deserves to be remembered for its contributions to the genre as well as for its
faults.
"Certainly it's an important book," Hart said, "to demonstrate that the literary techniques of a novel could be
applied to narrative journalism."
Nonfiction novel
Capote believed he had written more than an important book. It was a completely new form of writing, he
said. "It seemed to me that journalism, reportage, could be forced to yield a serious new art form: the
'nonfiction novel,' as I thought of it ... Journalism is the most underestimated, the least explored of literary
mediums," Capote said in a 1966 interview with The New York Times.
The book took the form of a novel, featuring set scenes, characters, a distinctive voice and a story formed with
an introduction, rising action, climax and resolution--the real events surrounding the murder of the Herb
Clutter family shaped into a storyline.
...
Earning an estimated $2 million in its first year, "In Cold Blood" garnered financial as well as critical success for
its author. Capote's creation, after all, had proved worth the effort and, he said, brought forth a new genre of
writing.
But not everyone agreed Capote could claim to have created the style.
His contemporaries, such as Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer, included Capote's work as part of "new
journalism"--Wolfe's term, coined in the mid-1960s, to describe a movement of creative writing in journalism.
Others put the origin much earlier.
In his introduction to "Literary Journalism," a compilation of articles of narrative journalism he co-edited,
narrative expert Mark Kramer traced it back as far as Daniel Defoe's writing in the 1700s, followed by that of
Mark Twain in the 19th century and other writers such as James Agee, Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Mitchell,
Lillian Ross and John Steinbeck in the period around World War II.
AP.Lang.SA.2015 10
"You can find a lot of earlier examples," said Kramer, who serves as director of the Nieman Foundation
Program on Narrative Journalism at Harvard. "It's silly, that kind of claim."
Still, Kramer said, Capote's accomplishments should overshadow his boastful nature. Although Capote might
not have created a new type of literature, historians of the form agree he played a crucial role in reviving it.
A "true account"
In his Jan. 16, 1966, review of "In Cold Blood" in The New York Times, Conrad Knickerbocker called the book, "a
remarkable, tensely exciting, moving, superbly written 'true account.' "
Beyond Knickerbocker's praise, notice the quotation marks around "true account."
...
Critics found discrepancies between "In Cold Blood" and official documents, such as the transcript of the
murder trial. And people who appear in the book--such as Duane West, the former Finney County prosecutor
who tried the case--contended that they had been portrayed unjustly or misquoted.
As time passed, more instances of Capote's fictionalization came to light.
The Rev. James Post, who served as chaplain of the Kansas State Penitentiary when killers Richard Hickock and
Perry Smith were there, said in an interview with George Plimpton that he had met with Hickock's son a few
years after the killers were executed.
"I didn't minimize the horrible things that he'd done or anything like that," Post said. "But I said his dad wasn't
the sex fiend that Capote tried to make him out ... like trying to rape the Clutter girl before he killed her ... it
didn't happen. And other things ... lies, just to make it a better story."
Dewey, who other people close to the case said Capote made into a composite law enforcement character,
later said the final scene of the book, in which he visits the graves of the Clutter family and talks with Nancy
Clutter's friend Susan Kidwell, did not happen.
...
West, along with others in Holcomb and Garden City, are still angry at Capote about the book. Garden City
native Jon Craig wrote a senior history thesis at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., about how the mistakes
of "In Cold Blood" negatively affected members of those communities, noting that a number of changes added
to the book artistically but stripped away the truth.
The surviving daughters of Herb and Bonnie Clutter--Beverly English and Eveanna Mosier--might be most
affected by the book's inaccuracies. They expressed anger about Capote's description of their mother as an
invalid, something they and others close to the Clutters contend was not true.
Such changes affect readers as well.
They lessen readers' trust of all journalists and erode the impact of individual works, Kramer said.
Critics also have challenged Capote's reporting technique. He never took notes during interviews for the book.
He claimed he could memorize what people said and recall it with 95 percent accuracy, something he said he
had trained himself to do by memorizing names in phone books and passages of books.
In Cold Blood's legacy
If written today, "In Cold Blood" would not be published without significant changes, Blais, from the University
of Massachusetts, said.
AP.Lang.SA.2015 11
"One of the ways in which literary journalism has evolved is that ... his book would not get published without
end notes or some kind of elaborate acknowledgment of his sources and his information techniques," she said.
"Transparency," as many in media now call it, has become one of the most crucial elements of mixing creative
writing with journalism.
At The Oregonian, Hart said: "We attribute anything we didn't observe directly; how we know what we know.
A lot of editors have pushed for strict guidelines.
"My opinion is, everything's fair as long as the writer lets the readers know (what changes he or she makes)."
Although newspapers and magazines are typically strict about accuracy, Hart said, narrative journalism in book
form is often less so.
...
But, leaders in the genre said, readers still expect the same honest approach from authors of books that they
do from newspaper or magazine articles.
Even though Capote said "In Cold Blood's" purpose was to test the artistic merit of journalism, many have
found worthwhile social issues within it. Some have used it to debate the value of the death penalty; others
praise it for its insight into the criminal mind; and many see in it commentary on social divisions.
"It provides such a stunning picture of the disconnect still much in evidence in our society between decent
families like the Clutters and the underclass," Blais said. "Perry Smith in particular came from the kind of
endangered background that just about axiomatically produces children who become dangerous."
AP.Lang.SA.2015 12
Article C
Tucker Shaw. “If Truman Capote fibbed, does “In Cold Blood” belong in the trash?” The Denver Post.
February 27, 2013
There has been much to-do-ing this month about new allegations that even more of Truman Capote’s seminal
“In Cold Blood,” which he famously called a “nonfiction novel” and “immaculately factual” was invented by
Capote.
The book is an indelible title in the American library, a riveting re-creation of a multiple murder committed by
Perry Smith and Dick Hickock in rural Kansas. What made it so fascinating wasn’t just Capote’s reporting, but
the incredible relationship he forged with Smith, the killer.
But all that’s been thrown into question. According to the Wall St. Journal, new evidence shows that police
reports following the crime may not jibe exactly with Capote’s text.
The problem is, once one fabrication’s been uncovered, everything else is thrown into question too. And the
quandary becomes: Do inaccuracies entirely negate the literary merit of the book? If we cease to consider it
true, does it then become kindling?
It happened to James Frey, whose “Million Little Pieces” was exposed as an elaborate lie. (Which is too bad for
Frey, because he’s a very good writer and maybe didn’t need to make so much stuff up.)
Veracity poses tricky questions for readers. The journalist in me says that if Capote got the facts wrong, or
worse, made stuff up, then the story’s no good. But the reader in me is loath to completely give up a book as
brilliantly constructed as “In Cold Blood.” Capote is just too important a writer to ignore, and the story, even if
it is a tall tale, is too compelling to drop.
Perhaps a note from the publisher in forthcoming editions is in order. But as a lifelong student of literature –
fiction and nonfiction – I’d hate to just cast “In Cold Blood” to the wind.
Well, in any event, we’ll always have Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
AP.Lang.SA.2015 13
Article D
Ted Gioia. “Postmodern Mystery. New Angles on an Old Genre.” Blog post
The crime novel was mostly forgotten by cutting edge American novelists during the 1950s and
1960s, its formulas seen as too confining, perhaps even too vulgar for the free spirits of modern fiction. Even
more to the point, the idealization of "law and order," inherent to the genre, was unlikely to appeal to a Jack
Kerouac, a Ken Kesey, a Thomas Pyncheon and the other literary bohemians who increasingly set the tone for
the not-so-belles lettres of this period, often by means of works that revealed rather a tendency to lawlessness
and disorder.
But when Truman Capote finally delivered the great literary treatment of murder and justice of the era,
In Cold Blood, his approach deviated markedly from the experimental tendencies of the day. Instead of
embracing the outrageous and fanciful, the extravagant and transgressive—areas where he would have
enjoyed an inherent advantage as a chronicler—Capote moved toward a scrupulous realism, and a deliberate
encroachment on the traditional territory of nonfiction authors. He still relied on the storytelling techniques
honed over two decades of writing fiction, yet now brought them to bear on a subject and situation that would
normally be addressed by journalists or perhaps sociologists.
On November 16, 1959, The New York Times reported on the murder of four members of a well-to-do family in
a small town in Kansas. The Times, then as now, downplayed sensational crime stories, and this brief article,
headlined "Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family Slain," would have been easy enough to miss. "A wealthy wheat
farmer, his wife and their two young children were found shot to death today in their home," the newswire
account began. "They had been killed by shotgun blasts at close range after being bound and gagged.…"
Fascinated by the few facts provided in this brief story, Capote was soon on his way to Kansas to begin what
would turn out to be a six-year odyssey—a period encompassing the investigation of the crime, the arrest of
Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, their trial and conviction, and ultimately their hanging on April 14, 1965.
For some time, Capote had been looking for a different way of conceptualizing the modern novel. He felt that
little true innovation had taken place since the 1920s, that most stories tended toward either pulp fiction
clichés or neo-fabulist excesses. With In Cold Blood he hoped to do something different, construct an
essentially non-fiction novel, one which would allow him to replace, in his words, the "self-created world" of
the traditional novel, with "the everyday objective world we all inhabit."
Capote had long cut an impressive figure in the literary world, able to command the interest of socialites and
celebrities, and even the mass media, to a degree that no later American novelist has been able to match. Yet
in researching and writing In Cold Blood, Capote revealed different talents and social skills, sometimes relying
on his reserves of charm while in other instances falling back on an almost ruthless pursuit of self-interest. No
wonder that, in addition to the story in the novel, an almost equally compelling story behind the novel would
eventually come to light, even serving as the basis for its own Hollywood movie, the 2005 film Capote.has
done is really moved the true crime as a genre forward. Ever since
“In Cold Blood,” came
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Article E
Saeed Shah and Ed Pilkington. “Greg Mortenson's dizzying fall from grace.” The Guardian. April 22, 2011
The troubled world of book publishing has become almost wearily accustomed to receiving yet more bad news
of a critically acclaimed memoir that turns out to have been partly or entirely fabricated.
The works of James Frey, J T LeRoy (aka Laura Albert), Margaret Jones (aka Margaret Seltzer), Nasdijj (aka
Timothy Barrus), and many more fit the theme.
But rarely has there been anything quite as [the] fall from grace of Greg Mortenson, author of the wildly
successful and until now [recently] revered memoir “Three Cups of Tea.”
The scale of Mortenson's tumble is partly amplified by the dizzy heights that he [has] occupied in the realms of
both publishing and philanthropy. “Three Cups of Tea”, his account of how he came to dedicate his life to
building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has sold 4 million copies and remained in the New York Times
bestseller list for more than four years.
The Central Asia Institute, which he founded on the back of the book to promote the educational causes he
espouses, has attracted funding of almost $60m (£36m), in no small part from the donations of his deeply
moved readers, including Barack Obama, who gave $100,000 from his Nobel prize winnings.
Another of those smitten readers was fellow adventurer and author Jon Krakauer, who was so moved he
donated $75,000 to CAI. But Krakauer then grew suspicious of the story and began his own investigation
...
In both ebook and TV programme, Krakauer tears apart the narrative core of Mortenson's book, beginning
with his claim that after a failed attempt to scale the mountain K2 in 1993 he stumbled into the Pakistani
village of Korphe, where locals saved his life, gave him sustenance and inspired him to give something back by
devoting himself to building schools in the area.
The problem, Krakauer says, is that none of that happened. "The first eight chapters of Three Cups of Tea are
an intricately wrought work of fiction presented as fact," he says, accusing the writer of "fantasy, audacity and
an apparently insatiable hunger for esteem.”
into print, others have repeatedly used the same formula with their own twist and turns, but the true crime book,
came to be something of its own genre. Not quite mystery fiction or crime drama, but rather the horror of crime
in real
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Article F Venn Diagram
Article G Photo
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