Of an exhibition of D. H. Lawrence's paintings, largely nudes, Rebecca West once noted: "Mr. Lawrence has very pink friends." In "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Mr. Capote has very lost friends or, more accurately, one very lost friend, Miss Holiday Golightly, who is surrounded by as false-hearted a clutch of drab witches and cut-rate warlocks as ever picked one another's bones at the Stork Club….

[Her compressed saga] is remindful around the edges of Djuna Barnes's "Nightwood," and raises a few French horn echoes of Iris March, Lady Brett Ashley, and the heroine of John O'Hara's "Butterfield 8" as well. But they are echoes of subject only; Capote's handling of scene, dialogue, illumination of character, near-caricature which rises to revelation, his eye for comedy both social and joyously antisocial; above all, his sympathy for Holly, which can deepen to controlled eloquence, make this short novel his own; and a fine one, outstanding in any season.

To the charges of pointillisme which academic children are quick to bring against masterful detail, it may now be remarked that a pencil flashlight is by definition as important as a lighthouse. And there are shadows in which it is far more effective….

Meantime, the craftsmanship crackles. Capote's humor, inclined to be waspish, often very funny, flies crisply at such "creatures" as O. J. Berman, the Hollywood agent; Rusty Trawler, the everlasting baby; Mag Wildwood, as interesting a specimen of frightful womanhood as the world has yet seen. Yet even here there is the tiny shaft of penetrating light, it goes much deeper than exotic burlesque; it is felt, and it turns dross valuable under the eye. When Capote deals directly with Holly he is able to bring the whole luminous question to the top of the mind; to touch pathos squarely.

These are not a decorator's accomplishments. There are equally hard-won triumphs all through the short novel; they add to much. A rare individual voice, cool even when exasperated, never more sure of itself than when amazed, sounds through every sentence. It is heard, as well, in varied emotional keys through the trio of admirable short stories bracing the title piece…. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" finds "the deep note of human existence" beyond moral condemnation, wry laughter, or the world's assessment. And that is art.