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This article says that Harper Lee wrote "In Cold Blood" in two places. I'm fairly certain these are just typos but want to make sure before I change it. Can someone confirm this or change it themselves.
Another Question/Serious Contradiction: The intro section says that Capote and Harper "took thousands of pages of notes", the 'criticism' section says that they "did not use a tape recorder or take any written notes". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.119.196.147 ( talk) 06:34, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
Can be mentioned in the article the book Massacre Operation of Rodolfo Walsh, a work wich some people say was the real pioneer of true crime, because was published 9 years before In cold blood? I think it should be writed as a polemic, a debate. 201.255.11.221 ( talk) 03:55, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
Err...can someone tweak this sentence: "Critics debate whether Capote invented this story or not."
It's unclear whether it means Capote invented the notion of a nonfiction novel, invented the story in his book, or what. Bantosh 11:45 19 June 2006
"Non-fiction" - do you mean "based on true account" ? The novel is
definitely fiction however as far as I can remeber based on facts.
Kpjas 18:49 13 Jun 2003 (UTC)
It actually falls into that category which is sometimes called "new journalism" or even "faction" (meaning, fact-based fiction). It's generally treated as a non-fiction work, though one with more creative license than some others.
Wheat
I reverted "cousin" back to "childhood friend". I couldn't find a source that said Capote and Harper Lee were cousins. --
SeanO July 2, 2005 11:41 (UTC)
Can we get some information about the factual accuracy of this work? Perhaps some Holcomb reporters or principles in the story have commented on the book ...
Some details are obviously unknowable (or at least unverifiable) like the conversations between Dick and Perry when they are on the run. My question is more about the details that have a reasonable possibility of being accurate. For example, it is possible that confession statements, psych evaluations et cetera that are presented in the novel are factually accurate while only the unknowables are fiction.
I just finished reading the book and am curious about this.
FYI: Another example of the non-fiction novel is Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald. Funkyj 21:19, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
The novel is historiographical metafiction - basically the novel is based on true events (being the murder, trial, and execution of Hickock and Smith), but Capote includes aspects of storytelling as well...for example when he delves into the minds of the other characters and creates opinions and thoughts that could not have happened, or that he could not have access to. For the record, I thought the book was great. Also, Smith did actually kill all of the Clutters.
"Nonfiction novel" is just a horrid phrase, and an oxymoron; it should not be used. —Preceding
unsigned comment added by
68.9.230.52 (
talk)
12:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
This article is fairly comprehensive and the writing reasonably solid, but it needs some style/tone, grammar, and punctuation cleanups. Examples include sentence fragments, phrases and clauses that appear to have words missing or that otherwise don't make sense, etc. If I have a chance, I'll do it myself sometime, but I encourage anyone with the interest to do so. 66.215.85.177 ( talk · contribs)
There is one passage that seems particularly confusing: the quotation of Smith saying he was "Sorry about Dick's mother." The only "Dick" in the story is Richard Hickock, right? Why would Smith be sorry about his accomplice's mother? Could it be that he was actually sorry about Kenyon's mother...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.30.79.69 ( talk) 21:22, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
I deleted the phrase that his brother and sister committed suicide. I need to research this further, and will edit the sentence when I have the facts. JJ 15:03, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
Capote stated in the book that smiths sister commited suiced-I believe by jumping from a window, while another sister lead a normal life, There was an interesting program on "A&E" about Hickock and Smith that had interviews with Duane West and the Police Chief of Holcomb, Kansas. This program played the authentic taped interviews with Hickock. The program contends that Smith refused to climb the stairs to the gallows and had to be carried, claiming that it was a shame that Hickocks life had to be taken, and that smith should be spared on the basis that he had so much to contribute to society! randazzo56
I deleted the stuff about the school bully. The only reference to this incident is in a letter written by Smith's father. In the book, Smith himself never mentions this incident. His rage appears to have been against his mother, his father, his surviving sister, and the nuns who mistrated him. Comments? JJ 15:47, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I corrected the error under Trail. A change of venue was never requeseted of Judge Tate, as Smith's lawyer argued they would get as fair a trial in Garden City as anywhere in the state of Kansas. JJ 23:59, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Someone changed the quote regarding Dick Hickock as "a normal" to "normal." I changed it back. Hickock, who was far from normal, was often quoted in the book saying stuff like, "I'm not like you Perry, I'm a normal." I have always been intrigued by this particular usage, and I'm asking that it be left as quoted. JJ 14:08, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
Except for the first paragraph this article is not about Capote's book but just plainly about the Clutter case. For anybody interested in the literary / journalistic assessement of the book, its merits and demerits etc. - and with the time to revise this article - I've just added an external link to a useful essay. -- 84.188.221.102 21:04, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
There's a lot about Capote and "In Cold Blood" in a new biography of Harper Lee, "Mockingbird, a portrait of Harper Lee" by Charles J Shields (Henry Holt 2006) ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-7919-7. The new book gives Harper Lee a lot of credit for Capote's success with "In Cold Blood" and notes that Capote never adequately acknowledged her aid.
Capote, who appears as Dill Harris in "To Kill a Mockingbird," grew up in the same neighborhood as the slightly younger (Nelle) Harper Lee, and from early years they collaborated a lot. Their friendship lasted through the publication of "Mockingbird" and "In Cold Blood." Seems she finally lost patience with Capote after he told an interviewer some lies about her childhood (Shields, p 270).
I deleted the assertion that Smith was not promoted because he would not have sex with his commanding officer. Can someone provide a reference in In Cold Blood? JJ 15:06, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Due to the pending Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Herbert Clutter I merged in the text from the individual articles on the family members. It may need to be edited to fit the context of the article. The individual articles did not have reference. Jeepday 04:57, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
Please merge any relevant content from Nancy Clutter, Herbert Clutter, Bonnie Clutter, Kenyon Clutter per Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Herbert Clutter. (If there is nothing to merge, just leave it as a redirect.) Thanks. — Quarl ( talk) 2007-02-13 21:22Z
I find the biographies on the family members redundant and unnecessary. Earlier there is talk of Bonnie's depression, then it's repeated. Let's weave the bios into the text of the article, and let it go at that. Comments? JJ 13:37, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
The novel is historiographical metafiction - basically the novel is based on true events (being the murder, trial, and execution of Hickock and Smith), but Capote includes aspects of storytelling as well...for example when he delves into the minds of the other characters and creates opinions and thoughts that could not have happened, or that he could not have access to. For the record, I thought the book was great.
Is this article about the book or the crime? It's written like a chronological retelling of the murders, but it has (book) in the title. This is unacceptable, as is the prevalence of WP:OR and WP:POV plaguing a majority of the sections. This needs to be completely turned around. María ( críticame) 20:41, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
The result of the proposal was PAGE MOVED per discussion below. - GTBacchus( talk) 04:12, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
I have requested that this page be moved to In Cold Blood, which currently redirects here. If the book is considered the primary use of the title, it is wrong for the plain title to redirect to the title with the parenthetic clarifier. -- ShelfSkewed Talk 04:54, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
I notice the article currently states the book was published in 1966. My copy of the book says that it was first published in hardcover and copyrighted in 1965. The New Yorker Web site says it was serialized in 1965 as well. [2] This was actually brought to my attention when another editor said the book was published in 1964. The evidence to me suggests 1965, but I wanted to see if anyone else had reason to believe otherwise before I changed it. -- JayHenry ( talk) 19:03, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
Hi. I was going over Operación masacre while it was a DYK on the mainpage, whose hook suggested that Walsh's 1957 book was published nine years earlier than Capote's. (Which would make In Cold Blood 's year of release 1966, of course.) But I followed the source cited for that particular bit of information, Waisbord, which gives the date as 1964. That's the only source I checked: the one cited in the article, which was being used to justify that particular DYK's hook. For what it's worth, Salon.com gives us a 1965 date. -- jbmurray ( talk • contribs) 21:49, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
Where in Holcomb is the house? There are no indicators on Google Earth (i.e. panoramio photos). -- 98.232.176.109 ( talk) 07:56, 19 July 2010 (UTC)
And the total revenue? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.195.1.164 ( talk) 22:58, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
In Cold Blood leaves us with the knowledge that Wells received a reward and was paroled after his testimony, then got sent to Parchman for armed robbery. Nothing more is mentioned of Willie Jay.
Does anyone have knowledge of what became of either of them? Hushpuckena ( talk) 05:10, 14 November 2011 (UTC)
"Overview of the crime" section says that Hickock and Smith pleaded temporary insanity but were deemed sane by local GPs. A GP is a general practitioner, and could someone at least explain the use of GPs for this? A psychiatrist is also a (medical) doctor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.63.16.82 ( talk) 17:58, 15 December 2011 (UTC)
Article In Cold Blood has statement 'Capote ultimately spent six years working on the book' whereas article Truman Capote has 'a book Capote spent four years writing'. So which is it to be?; there is no reference given for either statement.-- User:Brenont ( talk) 20:37, 30 June 2012 (UTC)
There was a nice section on the truthfulness of the book in the wiki article about Truman Capote. I copied and pasted it here, where it belongs. After all, I just finished reading the book, and I came here for exactly that information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:30A:C08C:A6F0:21C:B3FF:FEC3:2572 ( talk) 23:50, 30 March 2013 (UTC)
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Kauffmann's review is described as 'controversial'. But the article doesn't say why this is, and I think it should if it's going to be included. 92.0.35.8 ( talk) 09:57, 1 May 2022 (UTC)
This article says that New Journalism means you write about events as they happen. That is incorrect. It means using literary techniques to write about real events. Nancerdancer ( talk) 04:17, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
In Cold Blood article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
This
level-5 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on November 15, 2014, November 15, 2017, and November 15, 2019. |
This article says that Harper Lee wrote "In Cold Blood" in two places. I'm fairly certain these are just typos but want to make sure before I change it. Can someone confirm this or change it themselves.
Another Question/Serious Contradiction: The intro section says that Capote and Harper "took thousands of pages of notes", the 'criticism' section says that they "did not use a tape recorder or take any written notes". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.119.196.147 ( talk) 06:34, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
Can be mentioned in the article the book Massacre Operation of Rodolfo Walsh, a work wich some people say was the real pioneer of true crime, because was published 9 years before In cold blood? I think it should be writed as a polemic, a debate. 201.255.11.221 ( talk) 03:55, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
Err...can someone tweak this sentence: "Critics debate whether Capote invented this story or not."
It's unclear whether it means Capote invented the notion of a nonfiction novel, invented the story in his book, or what. Bantosh 11:45 19 June 2006
"Non-fiction" - do you mean "based on true account" ? The novel is
definitely fiction however as far as I can remeber based on facts.
Kpjas 18:49 13 Jun 2003 (UTC)
It actually falls into that category which is sometimes called "new journalism" or even "faction" (meaning, fact-based fiction). It's generally treated as a non-fiction work, though one with more creative license than some others.
Wheat
I reverted "cousin" back to "childhood friend". I couldn't find a source that said Capote and Harper Lee were cousins. --
SeanO July 2, 2005 11:41 (UTC)
Can we get some information about the factual accuracy of this work? Perhaps some Holcomb reporters or principles in the story have commented on the book ...
Some details are obviously unknowable (or at least unverifiable) like the conversations between Dick and Perry when they are on the run. My question is more about the details that have a reasonable possibility of being accurate. For example, it is possible that confession statements, psych evaluations et cetera that are presented in the novel are factually accurate while only the unknowables are fiction.
I just finished reading the book and am curious about this.
FYI: Another example of the non-fiction novel is Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald. Funkyj 21:19, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
The novel is historiographical metafiction - basically the novel is based on true events (being the murder, trial, and execution of Hickock and Smith), but Capote includes aspects of storytelling as well...for example when he delves into the minds of the other characters and creates opinions and thoughts that could not have happened, or that he could not have access to. For the record, I thought the book was great. Also, Smith did actually kill all of the Clutters.
"Nonfiction novel" is just a horrid phrase, and an oxymoron; it should not be used. —Preceding
unsigned comment added by
68.9.230.52 (
talk)
12:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
This article is fairly comprehensive and the writing reasonably solid, but it needs some style/tone, grammar, and punctuation cleanups. Examples include sentence fragments, phrases and clauses that appear to have words missing or that otherwise don't make sense, etc. If I have a chance, I'll do it myself sometime, but I encourage anyone with the interest to do so. 66.215.85.177 ( talk · contribs)
There is one passage that seems particularly confusing: the quotation of Smith saying he was "Sorry about Dick's mother." The only "Dick" in the story is Richard Hickock, right? Why would Smith be sorry about his accomplice's mother? Could it be that he was actually sorry about Kenyon's mother...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.30.79.69 ( talk) 21:22, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
I deleted the phrase that his brother and sister committed suicide. I need to research this further, and will edit the sentence when I have the facts. JJ 15:03, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
Capote stated in the book that smiths sister commited suiced-I believe by jumping from a window, while another sister lead a normal life, There was an interesting program on "A&E" about Hickock and Smith that had interviews with Duane West and the Police Chief of Holcomb, Kansas. This program played the authentic taped interviews with Hickock. The program contends that Smith refused to climb the stairs to the gallows and had to be carried, claiming that it was a shame that Hickocks life had to be taken, and that smith should be spared on the basis that he had so much to contribute to society! randazzo56
I deleted the stuff about the school bully. The only reference to this incident is in a letter written by Smith's father. In the book, Smith himself never mentions this incident. His rage appears to have been against his mother, his father, his surviving sister, and the nuns who mistrated him. Comments? JJ 15:47, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
I corrected the error under Trail. A change of venue was never requeseted of Judge Tate, as Smith's lawyer argued they would get as fair a trial in Garden City as anywhere in the state of Kansas. JJ 23:59, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Someone changed the quote regarding Dick Hickock as "a normal" to "normal." I changed it back. Hickock, who was far from normal, was often quoted in the book saying stuff like, "I'm not like you Perry, I'm a normal." I have always been intrigued by this particular usage, and I'm asking that it be left as quoted. JJ 14:08, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
Except for the first paragraph this article is not about Capote's book but just plainly about the Clutter case. For anybody interested in the literary / journalistic assessement of the book, its merits and demerits etc. - and with the time to revise this article - I've just added an external link to a useful essay. -- 84.188.221.102 21:04, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
There's a lot about Capote and "In Cold Blood" in a new biography of Harper Lee, "Mockingbird, a portrait of Harper Lee" by Charles J Shields (Henry Holt 2006) ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-7919-7. The new book gives Harper Lee a lot of credit for Capote's success with "In Cold Blood" and notes that Capote never adequately acknowledged her aid.
Capote, who appears as Dill Harris in "To Kill a Mockingbird," grew up in the same neighborhood as the slightly younger (Nelle) Harper Lee, and from early years they collaborated a lot. Their friendship lasted through the publication of "Mockingbird" and "In Cold Blood." Seems she finally lost patience with Capote after he told an interviewer some lies about her childhood (Shields, p 270).
I deleted the assertion that Smith was not promoted because he would not have sex with his commanding officer. Can someone provide a reference in In Cold Blood? JJ 15:06, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Due to the pending Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Herbert Clutter I merged in the text from the individual articles on the family members. It may need to be edited to fit the context of the article. The individual articles did not have reference. Jeepday 04:57, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
Please merge any relevant content from Nancy Clutter, Herbert Clutter, Bonnie Clutter, Kenyon Clutter per Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Herbert Clutter. (If there is nothing to merge, just leave it as a redirect.) Thanks. — Quarl ( talk) 2007-02-13 21:22Z
I find the biographies on the family members redundant and unnecessary. Earlier there is talk of Bonnie's depression, then it's repeated. Let's weave the bios into the text of the article, and let it go at that. Comments? JJ 13:37, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
The novel is historiographical metafiction - basically the novel is based on true events (being the murder, trial, and execution of Hickock and Smith), but Capote includes aspects of storytelling as well...for example when he delves into the minds of the other characters and creates opinions and thoughts that could not have happened, or that he could not have access to. For the record, I thought the book was great.
Is this article about the book or the crime? It's written like a chronological retelling of the murders, but it has (book) in the title. This is unacceptable, as is the prevalence of WP:OR and WP:POV plaguing a majority of the sections. This needs to be completely turned around. María ( críticame) 20:41, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
The result of the proposal was PAGE MOVED per discussion below. - GTBacchus( talk) 04:12, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
I have requested that this page be moved to In Cold Blood, which currently redirects here. If the book is considered the primary use of the title, it is wrong for the plain title to redirect to the title with the parenthetic clarifier. -- ShelfSkewed Talk 04:54, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
I notice the article currently states the book was published in 1966. My copy of the book says that it was first published in hardcover and copyrighted in 1965. The New Yorker Web site says it was serialized in 1965 as well. [2] This was actually brought to my attention when another editor said the book was published in 1964. The evidence to me suggests 1965, but I wanted to see if anyone else had reason to believe otherwise before I changed it. -- JayHenry ( talk) 19:03, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
Hi. I was going over Operación masacre while it was a DYK on the mainpage, whose hook suggested that Walsh's 1957 book was published nine years earlier than Capote's. (Which would make In Cold Blood 's year of release 1966, of course.) But I followed the source cited for that particular bit of information, Waisbord, which gives the date as 1964. That's the only source I checked: the one cited in the article, which was being used to justify that particular DYK's hook. For what it's worth, Salon.com gives us a 1965 date. -- jbmurray ( talk • contribs) 21:49, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
Where in Holcomb is the house? There are no indicators on Google Earth (i.e. panoramio photos). -- 98.232.176.109 ( talk) 07:56, 19 July 2010 (UTC)
And the total revenue? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.195.1.164 ( talk) 22:58, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
In Cold Blood leaves us with the knowledge that Wells received a reward and was paroled after his testimony, then got sent to Parchman for armed robbery. Nothing more is mentioned of Willie Jay.
Does anyone have knowledge of what became of either of them? Hushpuckena ( talk) 05:10, 14 November 2011 (UTC)
"Overview of the crime" section says that Hickock and Smith pleaded temporary insanity but were deemed sane by local GPs. A GP is a general practitioner, and could someone at least explain the use of GPs for this? A psychiatrist is also a (medical) doctor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.63.16.82 ( talk) 17:58, 15 December 2011 (UTC)
Article In Cold Blood has statement 'Capote ultimately spent six years working on the book' whereas article Truman Capote has 'a book Capote spent four years writing'. So which is it to be?; there is no reference given for either statement.-- User:Brenont ( talk) 20:37, 30 June 2012 (UTC)
There was a nice section on the truthfulness of the book in the wiki article about Truman Capote. I copied and pasted it here, where it belongs. After all, I just finished reading the book, and I came here for exactly that information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:30A:C08C:A6F0:21C:B3FF:FEC3:2572 ( talk) 23:50, 30 March 2013 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on In Cold Blood. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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Kauffmann's review is described as 'controversial'. But the article doesn't say why this is, and I think it should if it's going to be included. 92.0.35.8 ( talk) 09:57, 1 May 2022 (UTC)
This article says that New Journalism means you write about events as they happen. That is incorrect. It means using literary techniques to write about real events. Nancerdancer ( talk) 04:17, 24 June 2024 (UTC)