'H*E EMPORIA STATE EARCH JAlX PUBLICATION OF THE KANSAS STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, EMPORIA 1 Daylight and Darkness, Dream and Delusion: he Works of Truman Capote I L Craig M. Goad VHlTE LIBRARY. ESU iMPORlA 7heCjnpria State Redearck Studied KANSAS STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE EMPORIA, KANSAS 66801 Daylight and Darkness, Dream and Delusion: The Works of Truman Capote . by Craig M. Goad VOLUME XVI SEPTEMBER, 1967 NUMBER. 1 THE EMPORIA STATE RESEARCH STUDIES is published in September, December, March, and June of each year by the Graduate Division of the Kansas State Teachers College, 1200 Cominerci:ll St., Emporia, Kansas, 66801. Entered as second-class matter September 16, 1952, at the post office at Em- poria, Kansas, under the act of August 24, 1912.- Postage paid at Emporia, Kansas. "Stabement required by the Act of October, 1962; Section 4369, Title 39, United States Code, showing Ownership, Management and Cbculation." The Elnporia, State Researoh Studies is published in September, December, March and June of each year. Editorial Office and Publication Office at: 1200 Commercial Street, Empolria, Kansas. (66801). The Research Studies is edited and published by the Kansas State Teachers College, Ernporia, Kansas. A complete list of all publications of The Ernporia State Research Studies is published in the fourth number of each volume. c 1 ?> ,.5 C! / -, .J> 7,, . ij I 1. , L! KANSAS STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE EMPORIA, KANSAS JOHN E. VISSER P~esidentof the CoUege THE GRADUATE DIVISION LAURENCEC. BOYLAN,Dean EDITORIAL BOARD WILLIAMH. SEILER,P~ofessor of Social Sciences and Chairman of Division CHARLESE. WALTON,Professor of English and Head of Department GREEND. WYRICK,P~ofessor of English Edii.or of this issue: GREEND. WYRICK Papers published in this periodical are written by faculty members of the Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia and by either undergraduate or graduate- students whose studies are conducted in residence under the supervision of a faculty member of the college. .~~a**.~~ 432005 o~~~~~~0 7 lgs 'B '( 996T 'Al"n"a~) 111' '3??!f."3SU?flOH aVL ,,'poolg pz03 ul s,a)ode3 ueuxnlj :susueg ul Juaurqslund pue aruy3,, ~allvf)a8.1oa3, .d ,,'a?odv3 uvwnlJ lo sQ~?~)JMpa33alas o$ uorJanpol$uI,, 'laloqss qlqqL 'e!.rodma 'a5a[[o3 slaqava~a$v$S sesuvg 's~qf$0 1a)sely aalZiap aqJ 103 sauatua~!nbal aqa fo $uauql!fIuj 1tqncd u se paaeu!a!lo Ap~qss!q~ ju suo!~~od .a~pAle~'aZa1103 a)q ~.rnoss!~q$salnq).roN 31: qsg9u3 u! 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'poolg pl03 UI .Xl;[~y~3a[qo jo aauEls B 8u;rurv~ala[;ryM rury alou2;r 03 qn3;rjjyp q l;r jnq '8u;rly~s;ry pue alode3 lnoqe 3uyqlCrana jo anolddasrp 04 pua aygs;rp 03 a1q;rssod 11;r~ss;r l;r 'poo1g ~103UI layy .Xqua3e-ssald Inj[l;rys Xq pajula22vxa se~aauaj~od -UI! asoyM 'laneur laalqns Su!laaddeun put? a1X~ssno;raa~d e Xq pal;rw;rI '.I~J!,IA~.~ou;rur a su ajodea ssrursrp 04 'a~Bln3aeIOU j;r 'a1q;rssod SBM J! 'poqg 1710~)1'1 JO uo;r~v3gqndaq alojag .aur;rl syy jo alrqela3;rl ayl uy sa1n2lg ~demayl jo auo se j1asru;ry ysqqajsa 01 uoyualuy slIajgM e paru!apo~d Llpno1 os JaAa sey Iaqo auou sdey~adpua 'poolg pl03 UI ,,'~a~ouuo;rpg -uou,, s6ajoda3 usurnlL ueyl Xsla~oquoapue 'rus;ra;r~p3'Xmluawuro3 aJour pasnole yooq v say X~~snpuy8u;rysqqnd ayl jo X.~o~s;ryayl u;r urop1ag The uproar caused by In CoZd Blood and its subsequent massive sales represented a kind of symbolic coming full circle for Truman Capote'sliterary career. Seventeen pears before In Cold Blood, Capote7s first book, 0tk:r Voices, Other' Rooms, was awaited with the same ex- pectation and greeted with the wme praise and blame. In June of 1947, Life magazine published a feature stnry on promising young writers, the first page of which was dominated by a ~hotographof Truman Capote, seated on a plush divan and surrounded by exotic antiques.At that time he had-pblished nothing more important than a few relatively minor short stories; furthermore, established novelists like Jean Stafford, Gore Vidal, Calder VC7illingham, and Thomas Heggen were pictured in smaller photographs in the back pages of the article. No one has ever known just how Capote arranged for the dominant picture, but it was typical of the kind 6f news magazine coverage he was to receive during his career. To the ~opularmind, Truman Capote was simply more interesting than better established and more prolific novelists. Despite the public attention accorded him, Capote has been largely ignored by scholarly critics. As Paul Levine has pointed out, Capote has been considered a writer whose reputation is based on skillful ad- vertising rather than skillful writing.' The most persistent objections to Capote's work have been its refusal to concern itself with topics of social. importance and its preoccupation with the grotesque character and the irrational mind. This attitude, from which Capote's reputation with certain scholars has never fully recovered, was best summed up by the Time magazine reviewer who praised the child-like perceptions of some of the stories in A Tree of ~i&tand Other Stolries, adding that Capote's ". future would look wider if he could break away from the overripe mag~loliaand do more on bread and meat material."' The sexual perver- sion manifest in Capote's earliest work also distressed critics. An earlier Tim.e found that the theme of Other Voicer, Other Roorns was ". cal- culated to make the flesh crawl," and that ". the distasteful trappings of its homosexual theme overhang it like Spanish moss."G Another critical error was the tendency to identify Capote with the protagonists of his works. For example, John Aldridge flatly declared that the photograph of Capote on the dustLiacketof Other Voices, Othe~Rooms represented a fusion of Truman Capote and loel Knox, the book's main character.' As has been pointed out, such a'ttacks were ". more personal than literary," since whatever an author's preferences in cornpailionship, clothing, or cars may be, they have nothing to do with what he has put on paper.Vet it has been' difficult to separate the image of Capote reclining on that famous couch from Capote the stylist and storyteller. In Cold Blood has been responsible for a major alteration in Capote's literary status, for it is difficult in this time and -place to deny a book "John Chamberlin, "Young U. S. Writers," Life, XXII (June 2, 1947), 75. 4Paul Levine, "Truman Capote: The Revelation of the Broken Image," in Recent An~erican Fiction, p. 53. "'Privntc Light," Time, LIII (March 14, 1949), 113. '"'Spare the Laurels," Time, LI (January 26, 1948), 102. 'Jtihn W. Aldridge, After the Lost Genercrtiott, p. 190. hLevine, op. cit., p. 1.53. which deals with the very roots of one incidence of senseless violence, the likes of which fill the daily headlines. It is even more difficult to equate the very suave, very sophisticated Truman Capote with either the ultra-bourgeois Herbert Clutter family or their sadistic murderers. In a sense, In Cold Blood is a culmination of a facet of Capote's talent which has been obvious from the very first of his career.- Hicks has pointed out the duality of Capote's talent, stating that there are really two Capotes: the one most often identified in the public mind with the grotesques and mental aberrations and with gentle stories about pre- cocious children, and the other, less well-known Capote, ". the shrewd, alert, sophisticated reporter of events in the 'real' world."Yhe latter Capote is the author of numerous travel articles and sketches, some of which were published in Local Color in 1950; of the extended captions for a collection of Richard Avedon photographs, published as Ohserva- tions in 1959; and the better-known report of the traveling company of Porgy and Bess on tour in Russia, The Muses Are Heard, printed first in the New Yorker and published in book form in 1956. In Cold Blood seems not quite so startlingly out of character with Capote's past work if considered in the light of these earlier non-fiction works.