Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella)
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| Breakfast at Tiffany's | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Truman Capote |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novella |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Publication date | 1958 |
| Media type | print (hardback & paperback) & e-book, audio-cd |
| Pages | 192 pp (Paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-74565-3 (Paperback edition) |
Breakfast at Tiffany's is a novella by Truman Capote published, along with three of his short stories, in book form by Random House in 1958. The same year the novella appeared unabridged in the November issue of Esquire. The novella's prose style prompted Norman Mailer to call Capote "the most perfect writer of my generation," adding that he "would not have changed two words in Breakfast at Tiffany's."
The heroine of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Holly Golightly, became one of Capote's best-known creations and a cultural icon. Capote himself acknowledged that Golightly was the favorite of his characters. A major motion film, based on the novella and starring Audrey Hepburn, was released in 1961.
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[edit] Plot
The novella tells the story of a one-year (Autumn 1943 to Autumn 1944) friendship between the main character, Holiday ("Holly") Golightly and an unnamed narrator. The two are both tenants in a brownstone apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Holly Golightly (age 19-20) is a Texas-born country hick turned New York cafe society girl, who makes her living coaxing dollars off of rich, older gentlemen. The narrator, who lives in the flat above her, is an aspiring writer. Golightly, who likes to stun people with carefully selected tidbits from her personal life or her outspoken viewpoint on various topics, slowly reveals herself to the narrator. In the end, however, Golightly fears that she will never know what is really hers until after she has thrown it away; she subsequently abandons her friend to seek her ever elusive goal of finding both riches and a place to call home.
[edit] Background
In early drafts of the story Holly was named Connie Gustafson; however, Capote later changed her name to Holiday Golightly. He based the character of Holly on several different women, including Gloria Vanderbilt, Oona Chaplin and Walter Matthau's wife, Carol Grace. Capote was also unsuccessfully sued for libel and invasion of privacy by a Manhattan resident named Bonnie Golightly who claimed that he had based Holly on her.[1]
[edit] Adaptations
In 1961, the novella was loosely adapted into the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Hepburn and directed by Blake Edwards. The movie was transposed to contemporary times rather than the 1940s, the period of the novel. Holly Golightly, a musical version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, premiered in 1966 in Boston. The initial performances were panned by the critics and despite a rewrite by Edward Albee it closed after only four performances.[2]
Three years later, Stefanie Powers and Jack Kruschen starred in another adaptation, Holly Golightly (1969), an unsold ABC sitcom pilot. Kruschen's role was based on Joe Bell, a major character in Capote's novella who was omitted from the film version. In September 2009 Anna Friel will Star as Holly Golightly in a stage adaptation by Samuel Adamson at the Haymarket theatre in London. The production will be directed by Sean Mathias and Designed by Anthony Ward.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Clarke, Gerald (2005). Capote: A Biography. Carroll & Graf Publishers. pp. 313–14. ISBN 0786716614.
- ^ Davis, Deborah (2007). Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and his Black and White Ball. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 141–42. ISBN 9780470098219.
[edit] External links
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