Johnny Golightly Comes Home (Paperback) Pat Hopkins

Used but in decent condition

Abstract Johnny Golightly Comes Home is a nonfiction novel about the writing of two books by Pat Hopkins. In particular it is an account of the authors often troubled interaction with artist John Anthony Boerma, who once took on the persona of Johnny Golightly after reading Truman Capotes Breakfast at Tiffanys. It is a story about illusion and fantasy in the creation of a work of conceptual art. As the lies are stripped away, so a new character emerges that of Johnny Gochristly, the messiah sent to take away the parameters of the world. And in this latter-day passion play the unwitting writer has the role of Judas. The accompanying reflexive essay reviews the themes as they appear in the book especially those of epiphany brought on by trauma, which leads to a divine mission often associated with extreme eccentricity. It concludes with a section on the writing process.

'For years I'd been struggling with an identity crisis,' says the slight, immaculately dressed Boerma as he plunges a fork into a slice of carrot cake topped with a blob of cream and a pink bougainvillaea petal. 'My mother was English, my father Dutch; I was gay, while the Nelspruit community I grew up in was macho; I had fabulous visions of Parisian glamour, but I lived in Hicksville; and I had privilege, while my black friends were oppressed.' When John-Anthony Boerma, in exile in Holland, put down Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, his checkerboard life fell into place - Holly Golightly, the central character, was him. This was the fi rst of several identities that the artist assumed. Pat Hopkins tells the story of this eccentric man in a personal story that at times becomes intertwined with his own story. The result is a very personal and intriguing memoir of a writer describing an artist who leads him on a dance of discovery.

The Penguin Group (SA) (Pty) Ltd

Dimension: 210 x 148mm (L x W)

Paperback