Porgy<\/em>, a recently published novel by the American writer DuBose Heyward.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nHeyward\u2019s wife Dorothy reported that, far from dozing off swiftly, Gershwin \u2018read himself wide awake\u2019 that night, gripped by her husband\u2019s dark, gritty tale of African American life in the tenements of Charleston, South Carolina. By four in the morning, Gershwin knew the story was ideal for an opera, and dashed off a letter to Heyward suggesting a meeting.<\/p>\n
Little came of that initial contact. For one thing, the Heywards were already adapting Porgy as a play, for production on Broadway a year later. And Gershwin himself was wary of an immediate collaboration. \u2018He said it would be a couple of years before he would be prepared technically to compose an opera,\u2019 DuBose Heyward recalled later.<\/p>\n