Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Introduction:

Truman Capote, the author of The Grass Harp, is the main developer of 'New Journalism'. He reserves the credit for introducing new style in the field of writing and making the presentation of words more appealing. The term 'New Journalism' is used because his writing style combines both journalism and writing together, thus introducing a new genre of writing.

Capote, after getting early education, started his career as an accountant in 'The New Yorker Magazine”, and soon shifted to arts department of the same publication. At the art department, he got an opportunity to make use of his creative skills and came up with cartoons and news clips. Later on, he worked as column writer and then as a freelance writer for various organizations (Clarke, 2005).

The most famous novels of Capote include 'The Grass Harp”, “In Cold Blood” and “A Tree of Night”.

The Grass Harp (1951):

The Grass Harp, published in October, 1951 is a story of an orphan and two other women, who observe life and events of life from a tree. The Grass Harp was Capote's second attempt, after being unsuccessful in completing his first novel Summer Crossing; he decided to carry on with a second piece that he named The Grass Harp. Capote started The Grass Harp in 1950, and after a year, it got completed in 1951. A tree house is used as a metaphor throughout the novel, and it deals with a number of other concepts described in a different and constructive manner.

The novel deals with a boy, Collin Fenwick, who has lost his mother and then his father as well, and has to spend the rest of his days with his aunts. Collin describes his relations as: “We were friends, Dolly and Catherine and me. I was eleven, then I was sixteen. Though no honors came my way, those were the lovely years”. The story is simple and straight, and most of the part tells the narrations of the two ladies (Dolly and Verena), their servant and Collin. In the novel, Dolly has the secret of making some medicine, and Dolly prepares it using herbs from the woods. One day, while collecting herbs, she, Collin and Catherine spots an old tree house in the wood, not realizing that it is going to be there home in the future.

A few days after spotting the tree house, Dolly and Verena have a serious disagreement. The disagreement arises when Verena asks Dolly to start mass production of her medicine, and Dolly bluntly refuses. Consequently Dolly, Collin and Catherine (the servant) leave the house and start walking. The three members decide to take shelter in the tree house, while the rest of the society continues to look for them, only to end up concluding that the search was pointless and tiresome, with no results to be seen whatsoever.

The novel delivers the message that a number of people walk in and out of life, and life goes on at its normal pace anyway. Capote discusses a number of other concepts ...