Ao publicar Bonequinha de luxo, Truman Capote confirmava o sucesso de seus primeiros romances e criava uma das personagens mais cativantes da cultura a irresistível Holly Golightly que, depois de ganhar Nova York, conquistou as plateias de cinema na pele de Audrey Hepburn. Em plena Segunda Guerra Mundial, um jovem escritor vai tentar a sorte em Nova York, pagando aluguel barato no mesmo prédio decadente em que, alguns andares abaixo, certa moça loira e míope ganha a vida com muita graça e pouca virtude. Aos poucos, ela se torna o centro das atenções do escritor, intrigado com o enigma da jovem sulista que, com uma passagem por Hollywood e uns laivos de francês, transforma a si mesma numa personagem í sonhadora e pé-no-chão, ingênua e indefinível, Holly Golightly não deixa ninguém indiferente. A novela de Capote é um prodígio de leveza e precisão que, ao ser filmada em 1961 por Blake Edwards, com Audrey Hepburn no papel de Holly, conquistou o público de cinema e fez de Holly uma das grandes personagens da cultura popular americana. O mesmo fascínio exercido por esse tipo de personagem à margem da "respeitabilidade" se encontra nos três relatos breves também incluídos nesta ediçã Uma casa de flores (1951) narra o vaivém de uma moça haitiana entre as suas montanhas natais e um bordel em Porto Príncipe; em Um violão de diamante (1950), um jovem prisioneiro cubano conduz uma trama de sedução platônica e cruel numa colônia penal sulista; e Memória de Natal (1956) fecha o volume com uma memória de infância que é ao mesmo tempo tributo a uma figura adorável e, à sua maneira única, perfeitamente excepcional.
Author
Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays. He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her new husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Mr. Capote adopted Truman, legally changing his last name to Capote and enrolling him in private school. After graduating from high school in 1942, Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into a circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversial because of the photograph of Capote used to promote the novel, posing seductively and gazing into the camera. In the 1950s and 1960s, Capote remained prolific producing both fiction and non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood, a story about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, was published in 1966 in book form by Random House, became a worldwide success and brought Capote much praise from the literary community. After this success he published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at age 59.
