Bright Lights, Big City is a novel published by Vintage on August 12, 1984 by the American author Jay McInerney. A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... The Vintagers, after a miniature of the Dialogues de Saint Gregoire (thirteenth century)—manuscript of the Royal Library of Brussels. ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... Jay McInerney (born in 1955 in Hartford, Connecticut and christened John Barrett McInerney, Jr. ...

It is written about a character's time spent caught up in, and notably escaping from, the mid-1980s New York fast lane. As the book is one of the few well-known English novels written in the second person, its main character is unnamed. He is a writer with potential who, by day, works as a fact checker for a literary magazine for which he had hoped to write. By night, he is a partier, a cocaine-addict, and an generally confused young man. Bright Lights, Big City is a scathing criticism of the superficiality pervasive in 1980's New York society. Second-person narration is a narrative technique in which the protagonist or another main character is referred to by employment of second-person personal pronouns and other kinds of addressing forms, e. ...

The novel would go on to be the source material for a 1988 film of the same name. In 1999, an off-Broadway stage musical was produced by the New York Theater Workshop, written by Paul Scott Goodman and directed by Michael Grief, with orchestrations and musical direction by Richard Barone. Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Richard Barone is a musician, formerly the vocalist and leader in the New Jersey band The Bongos. ...

Putative source

The title of the book matches that of a 1950s blues song by r&b musician Jimmy Reed. His song was later covered by a number of artists, including The Rolling Stones and The Animals. Jimmy Reed James Jimmy Mathis Reed (September 6, 1925 - August 29, 1976) was an important United States blues singer notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. ... “Rolling Stones” redirects here. ... The US edition of The Animals self-titled debut album. ...

Influence

Indie rock luminaries Half Japanese play a track called "Bright Lights, Bright City" off of their 1988 record Charmed Life. The lyrics faintly recount the plot of the book. Half Japanese is a seminal punk rock band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in their Uniontown, Maryland bedroom around 1975 - 1977. ... Charmed Life may refer to: Charmed Life, a 1977 novel by Diana Wynne Jones Charmed Life, a 1990 album by Billy Idol Charmed Life, a 1997 film directed by Eugene Lo Charmed Life, a 1988 album by Half Japanese. ...