A Pretty Good Line (Guess Which)

Professor:

I trust by now you have sloughed off that nagging cold and are back to normal. I watched the movie "Capote" the other night and what a compelling portrayal by the actor who won the Oscar. I thought at times I was watching the real, but dearly departed, Truman. This prompted me to reread the book (which I'm doing, about half finished) and it's slow going. The writing, I feel, is sluggish, but the insight and details surrounding the killers, victims, community are powerful, precise. I forgot that TC never wrote
anything after In Cold Blood. He was a weird little man wasn't he?

Big Daddy:

That is a great movie, and I've taken my feature writing students to see it. But you are right about the book. When you come back to it, *it's not that wonderfully written.* Much of it is just workmanlike. It was the story, not the style. But all the lies and tricks he employed to get the story and stretch the story to his purposes did seem to eat at his soul. My soul doesn't have a toothmark on it! I might have had a better career if it did.

Something for ethics class....