This book provides a critical discussion of True Crime literature, arguing for the deconstruction of the genre into subgenres that better reflect a work's contents. In analysing seminal and lesser-known works, the areas of authenticity, accuracy, and author proximity are considered to form a framework on which an individual publication's subgenre (re)categorisation can be assessed. The book considers the likes of Ann Rule, Truman Capote, and Maggie Nelson, among other notable authors. Their works - those that fit into True Crime and those that defy categorisation within the genre as it exists - are reviewed, and their defining features critiqued. Topics such as narrative methodologies, figurative language, and utilisation of research are considered in support of this. These strands combine to a larger discussion regarding a deconstruction of True Crime, and the ways in which this will improve the social responsibility of the genre, and encourage a more conscientious consumerism of it.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Chapter one: Introduction. - Chapter two: Time of Death: The early era of True Crime. - Chapter three: Writing the I in True Crime. - Chapter four: Vincent Bugliosi s Objectivity: Can we side-step bias in True Crime? . - Chapter five: The Writer Inside Me: Does Ann Rule s proximity to the serial killer celebrity translate to a reliable re-telling? . - Chapter six: Writing True Crime from a safe distance. - Chapter seven: Truman Capote s World of Make-Believe: How does figurative language and creative license distort truth in In Cold Blood? . - Chapter eight: 3, 500 files and an unfinished script: Is well-curated research and collaboration the key to truthful True Crime, considered through Michelle McNamara s I ll Be Gone in the Dark? . - Chapter nine: Writing creative (true) crime narratives. - Chapter ten: Manson s Girls Make a Comeback: How (c)overt is the influence of the Charles Manson case on Emma Cline s The Girls, and should readers be expected to ignore the connections? . - Chapter eleven: Narrative Hybridity in True Crime: Is Maggie Nelson integrating poetry into the True Crime genre? . - Chapter twelve: Conclusion.
