Truman Capote and the old failings of New Journalism

Freshly uncovered police reports of the In Cold Blood murder case show the ‘non-fiction novelist’ was rather too imaginative with the facts

In his introduction to a 1973 anthology of literary reportage, The New Journalism, Tom Wolfe lampoons the appalled reaction of the old guard to the blend of literary technique and newspaper reportage which made his name as a feature writer:

These people must be piping it, winging it, making up the dialogue … Christ, maybe they’re making up whole scenes, the unscrupulous geeks ...

Continue reading...