Thanks for sharing this interesting work. I think looking at fiction whether it's based on true stories or not is a productive way to ask questions about the society that both produced that and consumed it. We are studying how lobotomy was depicted on film and hope ot write on that matter.
You are much too kind. We are very happy that you have enjoyed these pieces. There are a few more in the works. In addition to that a longer work that weaves the posts together may be in order.
Yes! The distinction between true crime and crime fiction can be challenging (and fun!) to parse. For me, Dreiser (and other writers influenced by notorious contemporary cases like Cain) make enough changes, not only names but aesthetic and symbolic choices, that Capote’s work is approached and understood differently. Would love to hear what you think!
I read Dreiser more recently, which means 20 years ago, so I can’t really compare him to In Cold Blood which I read longer ago.
Dreiser is a bit of a fave and he had a lot of focus on class distinctions, the class war. Actually I read all his fiction. Dreiser was the first half of the 20th Century, coming into focus with Sister Carrie in 1900 and dying in 1945. AND joined the Communist Party on his death bed.
The second half of the 20th Century was much different with the natural assumption that The New Deal and the power of the USA economy having somehow settled the class war issues.
I’m not sure what Capote was all about and I’m not sure that my viewing of The Swans series helped at all. I enjoyed the series but entertainment stuff like that is distracting in its own need for attention and probably just makes the actual people and their work more remote.
In my old are I’m more and more put off by the power and the glory of the very expensive media of high profile moving image entertainment.
Great post! I read it and True Crime's "New" Normal last night. I really appreciate the work you're doing, and I'd love to read more of your work on this counterhistory of true crime in America. I'm happy to have semi-stumbled into the work of Maggie Nelson and Alex Marzano-Lesnevich a little while ago. After reading these two posts of yours last night, I started Myriam Gurba's Mean and added The Algiers Motel Incident and work by Emma Copley Eisenberg and Angela D. Sims to my list. I finished Rosalyn Rossignol's My Ghost Has A Name the other day, which I think might fit. I'm looking for more work by female authors in this vein and would be grateful for any recommendations. I didn't realize how far back this other way of constructing true crime reaches!
Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment! I'm working on an expanded version of the "counterhistory" argument for an upcoming collection of true crime scholarship, which I'm sure I'll shamelessly shill here! I would love to know what you think of Gurba and Hersey. I haven't read My Ghost Has A Name, and am grateful for the recommendation. I need to do more digging into true crime in the 80s and 90s to flesh out my historical argument, but some more recent recommendations include The Other Side (Lacy M. Johnson) and the essay collections Savage Appetites (Rachel Monroe) and Unspeakable Acts (Sarah Weinman). And thank you for Explaining Crime! I love the "What I Do" series.
You're very welcome! Please do shill that upcoming collection here; I can't wait to read it. I'm not familiar with Gurba, but I've read Hersey's Hiroshima, so I'm fascinated to learn that he wrote this text so differently. I'll be interested in what you think of My Ghost Has A Name. I've added The Other Side and Unspeakable Acts to my list and moved Savage Appetites up. Thanks for recommending them. And thank you for your kind words about Explaining Crime. I've hit a lull with "What I Do", but it will be back!
Loved this—totally agree with all of your assessments and still find myself, like you, Team Truman in so many ways. His writing feels like diving into clear cold water to me—I feel alive and zingy for hours after reading his prose.
Yes! I feel it’s my personal mission to seek out those who have only seen the movie version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and let them know what they’re missing!
Thanks for sharing this interesting work. I think looking at fiction whether it's based on true stories or not is a productive way to ask questions about the society that both produced that and consumed it. We are studying how lobotomy was depicted on film and hope ot write on that matter.
I couldn't agree more! The lobotomy topic sounds fascinating!
Thank you. We have written two stories that will form part of that larger project.
https://curingcrime.substack.com/p/the-clockwork-orange-forcing-dishonest
https://curingcrime.substack.com/p/shock-therapies-in-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-bcc73ddd9845
Thanks for sharing! I love the way you support the literary analysis with such captivating historical context.
Hi Tracy,
You are much too kind. We are very happy that you have enjoyed these pieces. There are a few more in the works. In addition to that a longer work that weaves the posts together may be in order.
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser?
Yes! The distinction between true crime and crime fiction can be challenging (and fun!) to parse. For me, Dreiser (and other writers influenced by notorious contemporary cases like Cain) make enough changes, not only names but aesthetic and symbolic choices, that Capote’s work is approached and understood differently. Would love to hear what you think!
I read Dreiser more recently, which means 20 years ago, so I can’t really compare him to In Cold Blood which I read longer ago.
Dreiser is a bit of a fave and he had a lot of focus on class distinctions, the class war. Actually I read all his fiction. Dreiser was the first half of the 20th Century, coming into focus with Sister Carrie in 1900 and dying in 1945. AND joined the Communist Party on his death bed.
The second half of the 20th Century was much different with the natural assumption that The New Deal and the power of the USA economy having somehow settled the class war issues.
I’m not sure what Capote was all about and I’m not sure that my viewing of The Swans series helped at all. I enjoyed the series but entertainment stuff like that is distracting in its own need for attention and probably just makes the actual people and their work more remote.
In my old are I’m more and more put off by the power and the glory of the very expensive media of high profile moving image entertainment.
Great post! I read it and True Crime's "New" Normal last night. I really appreciate the work you're doing, and I'd love to read more of your work on this counterhistory of true crime in America. I'm happy to have semi-stumbled into the work of Maggie Nelson and Alex Marzano-Lesnevich a little while ago. After reading these two posts of yours last night, I started Myriam Gurba's Mean and added The Algiers Motel Incident and work by Emma Copley Eisenberg and Angela D. Sims to my list. I finished Rosalyn Rossignol's My Ghost Has A Name the other day, which I think might fit. I'm looking for more work by female authors in this vein and would be grateful for any recommendations. I didn't realize how far back this other way of constructing true crime reaches!
Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment! I'm working on an expanded version of the "counterhistory" argument for an upcoming collection of true crime scholarship, which I'm sure I'll shamelessly shill here! I would love to know what you think of Gurba and Hersey. I haven't read My Ghost Has A Name, and am grateful for the recommendation. I need to do more digging into true crime in the 80s and 90s to flesh out my historical argument, but some more recent recommendations include The Other Side (Lacy M. Johnson) and the essay collections Savage Appetites (Rachel Monroe) and Unspeakable Acts (Sarah Weinman). And thank you for Explaining Crime! I love the "What I Do" series.
You're very welcome! Please do shill that upcoming collection here; I can't wait to read it. I'm not familiar with Gurba, but I've read Hersey's Hiroshima, so I'm fascinated to learn that he wrote this text so differently. I'll be interested in what you think of My Ghost Has A Name. I've added The Other Side and Unspeakable Acts to my list and moved Savage Appetites up. Thanks for recommending them. And thank you for your kind words about Explaining Crime. I've hit a lull with "What I Do", but it will be back!
I enjoyed this a great deal.
Thanks for reading!
Loved this—totally agree with all of your assessments and still find myself, like you, Team Truman in so many ways. His writing feels like diving into clear cold water to me—I feel alive and zingy for hours after reading his prose.
Yes! I feel it’s my personal mission to seek out those who have only seen the movie version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and let them know what they’re missing!