A Diamond Guitar
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| "A Diamond Guitar" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Truman Capote | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Southern literature |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Harper's Bazaar (volume 84, part 2) |
| Publication type | Magazine |
| Publisher | Hearst Corporation |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | 1950 |
"A Diamond Guitar" is a short story by Truman Capote, first published in Harper's Bazaar in 1950; it is noted as one of his better quality early short stories.[1] The title refers to the prize possession of the younger man, a rhinestone-studded guitar; the guitar serves as the key image of the story.[2]
Capote wrote "A Diamond Guitar" in April 1950 during a three-week-long transatlantic freighter crossing from New York to Italy.[3]
It is one of three short stories normally published in the same volume as Breakfast at Tiffany's, first released in 1958.
The story is set in a prison in a rural area near Mobile, Alabama where convicts perform road work and farm turpentine from nearby pine forests. The two main characters are both convicts, Mr. Schaeffer, an older man serving a ninety-nine year sentence for murder, and Tico Feo, a newly arrived young man sentenced to serve two years for stabbing two men. Mr. Schaeffer and Tico form a fast bond that is simultaneously intimate and platonic. On Valentine's Day they agree to attempt an escape during the following day's work. Tico succeeds in getting away, but Mr. Schaeffer breaks his ankle in a shallow creek. Tico betrays Mr. Schaeffer's affections by not coming to his aid, but Mr. Schaeffer is given credit for trying to capture Tico and takes possession of the prized guitar.[4]