Manuscript shows how Truman Capote renamed his heroine Holly Golightly

Until the final typescript of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which is set to be auctioned, the author had planned to call her Connie Gustafson

The final typescript for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, on which Truman Capote scratched out his original choice for the name of his heroine, Connie Gustafson, and replaced it with Holly Golightly, is set to go up for auction.

The manuscript, which is covered with Capote’s handwritten edits, also shows how the author tempered the sexual content of the story before publication, removing lines such as Holly’s admission that: “Boy, I have hit the hay with some real ghastlies just because I couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to have somebody hold me”. Later, Capote cuts an exchange between Holly and her flatmate Mag Wildwood, in which Mag reveals that during sex she pictures a statue of her forefather “Papadaddy Wildwood” in his military uniform.

Continue reading...