Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella)

Breakfast at Tiffany's  

First edition cover
Author Truman Capote
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 first published by Random House in 1958.

Contents

Plot summary

The story follows a young writer and his memory of an eccentric, charming call girl named Holly Golightly in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The book follows his interest and fascination with the young girl, and her various escapades that inspire him. The narrator remains anonymous throughout the piece, referred to only by Holly as "Fred" (the name of her oldest brother). Tiffany's refers to the New York jewelry store where Holly Golightly goes to when she gets the "mean reds".

Background

Capote often said that Holly was his favorite character out of all his literary works. 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

Adaptations

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 In 1961, the novella was loosely adapted into a major film by the same name starring Audrey Hepburn and directed by Blake Edwards. The movie was transposed to contemporary times rather than the 1940s, the period of the novel.

Eight 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ Clarke, Gerald (2005). Capote: A Biography. Carroll & Graf Publishers. pp. 313–14. ISBN 0786716614. 
  2. ^ 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. 

External links


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