I'm currently making my way through In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It's fantastic, a classic piece of literature, genre-bending, etc. All those things they ever say about it, blah blah blah. However, there is something about it I find inappropriately amusing in his technique. Most of the narrative and dialogue comes from interviews with the real folks of Holcomb, Kansas, or the people directly involved with the murder of the Clutter family. Occasionally, Mr. Capote will just write one long direct quote from someone. Other times, he'll write a narrative paragraph, putting certain words or phrases in quotes. An example reads like this:
She was "such a sweet person," so "artistic," a "terrific" dancer...
or
Christ, it was incredible how he could "con a guy." Like the clerk in the Kansas City, Missouri, clothing store, the first of the places Dick had decided to "hit." As for Perry, he'd never tried to "pass a check."
Does this make anyone else giggle? Did the use of such sarcasm not exist in 1965? I can't take these sentences seriously. And I've tried really hard, but when I read sentences like the ones above, I hear myself saying the quoted word or phrase in such a snarky, sarcastic way. It's taking me out of the moment of an otherwise wonderful book.
Mr. Capote should take some "advice" from "me."
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