Book Description
A timeless selection of brilliant short stories that won William Saroyan a position among the foremost, most widely popular writers of America when it first appeared in 1934.With the greatest of ease William Saroyan flew across the literary skies in 1934 with the publication of The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories. One of the first American writers to describe the immigrant experience in the U.S., Saroyan created characters who were Armenians, Jews, Chinese, Poles, Africans, and the Irish. The title story touchingly portrays the thoughts of a very young writer, dying of starvation. All of the tales were written during the great depression and reflect, through pathos and humor, the mood of the nation in one of its greatest times of want. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

So glad I got this
I read about Saroyan in Closing Time (Heller's disappointing sequel to Catch-22), I was inspired to pick up this book and I'm so glad I did. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book, and so far the preface remains my favorite part. Fortunately, that's because it's an amazing preface that, brief as it may be, would have been just barely worth the purchase price all on its own. This is, of course, not an issue, because so far every story has been a bite-sized morsel of goodness. Especially great for the sort of person who likes to read a few short stories in one sitting, they're compact and plentiful and thoroughly satisfying. So... get this book.

TOP SHELF
William Saroyan was brought to my attention by Jack Kerouac's early writings in "Upon An Underwood."I can see why Kerouac was turned on by Saroyan...and so am I.This book of stories is very inspiring because, in a good-natured way, it defies the conformist rules and regulations that "academic literature" tries to enforce upon young writers.It's as funny as it is insightful...and even a bit bizarre.It easily belongs on the TOP SHELF of any library.
Its value is timeless.

Creatively crafted -- never a dull moment.
Saroyan has a rare sense of language usage and introduces thoughts and ideas causing you to stop and realize how the grind of everyday life can be refreshing, moving, and humorous. His writings represent a slice of life ineveryday America as well as amusing insights into the wacky rightbraininess of a writer. Once you get through the first chapter and canstand up again, the rest of the book is one deeper-than-real-life-storyafter another. Like Edith Wharton, Saroyan has a command of the craftof writing that seems lost in today's works.

Saroyan's first book of stories.
A masterful work.Most of them written in a thirty day period, in whichSaroyan promised to send the editors od Story magazine a story a day forthirty days.He proceeded to do this and this book made Saroyan an instantcelebrity.

Saroyan eventually went on to win the Pulitzer for his play"The Time of You Life", but turned it down.

This book was astunner when it first appeared.The simple yet poetic language ran againstthe trend of the times.

Saroyan is a nearly forgotten genius, yet hisinfluence is evident in even his enemies, like Ernest Hemingway.

Buy thisbook, read it, and then give it to somebody.They will thank you and sowill I.

It was the best book I read in the right time.
I think there are not many books, that can change your life. This is one of them. I was sixteen when I read this book for the first time. I was not very happy in that time and I was rather confused by life but it has changed. In these short stories I could read about thoughts and feelings, that were similar to mine, but I had not be able to express them. But angle of wiev was new. It made me to live in spite of the world. ... Read more

Book Description
This is the most complete and generous sampling of the first half of an indispensable American writer's career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

SAROYAN AGAIN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
I first read the stories in this collection from 1956 to 1961. They are as great as ever with "The Adventures of Wesley Jackson" having a whole new meaning and as beautiful,warm and poetic as always. (Why don't they make a TV series out of Wesley Jackson?)

What a great gift idea for Saroyan fans and those who have never had the pleasure of reading one of his stories. The stories were selected by Saroyan himself and there is an introduction by his son Aram. The collection includes some of my alltime favorites such as "The Man With His Heart In The Highlands," and "70,000 Assyrians," and also his Pulitzer Prize winning "The Time of Your Life." (Be sure to read the speech he gave when he turned down the award.)

I bought it to take on a trip and it was a fond companion. Well worth the investment. Enjoy!

Caught in the grind of every day life...
William Saroyan was a great American author of short stories, short novels, plays and poetry. As an Armenian-American from Fresno, California, many of his stories touch upon that background; but there is much more in Saroyan. He writes about simple, ordinary everyday people (anti-heroes), caught in the grind of every day life.

His most outstanding works are presented in this anthology including: "Saroyan Prizes", "70,000 Assyrians", "A Cold Day", "The Living and the Dead", "Finlandia" and "A Writer's Declaration". Every one of these works is existential, pondering love, art, war, peace and prosperity. The characters are your real, everyday people taken out of thier mundane circumstances that most of us face daily.

Saroyan's eloquent but essentially simple style makes for easy but reflective reading.

Perfect intro to Saroyan
This book does a great job of introducing you to the writings of William Saroyan.His novels, plays and short stories capture life in a succinct style I have never seen repeated.My favorite are his short stories, which I never want to stop reading.In a few pages he brings characters, events and places to life.

Surprisingly strong stories
William Saroyan is a wonderful writer for would-be writers to take a deeper look at. Not because his prose is so wonderful or because his stories are so engaging, but because he states most succinctly what every writer feels. That, though they have plenty of written pages, they feel like they have said nothing at all. And if Saroyan can feel this way and still produce what he has, well, there is hope then.

"Oranges" and "Finlandia" are the stand-out pieces in the collection as far as I'm concerned, though many others have a thought or two that linger. "Oranges" is heartbreaking, a story about a little orphan boy forced to sell oranges on the street corner, a little orphan boy who doesn't know what it is to laugh. And "Finlandia" deals with the idea of time and geography in a very thought provoking and musical manner. Many images and sounds are striking.

I was rather surprised myself that I liked Saroyan's work and ended up keeping the book when I had thought to donate it to a local library.

A Great Intro to a Great Author
If you've never been lucky enough to be exposed to the down-to-earth writing of William Saroyan, you are definitely missing out on a treat.Saroyan's short stories, autobiographical writings, and novels are simple realism, stretched to heart rending emotional height.This book is a fine compilation for a new reader of Saroyan, who, like his California colleague, Steinbeck, doesn't get enough attention these days.Also, this collection contains the wonderful novella, "Tracy's Tiger," an incredible allegorical tale of love and struggle in the postmodern world. ... Read more

Book Description
Here is Saroyan at the top of his form--the unmistakable voice in all its resonant variety--setting out to tell the story of his life.

In superbly rendered scenes from his life as an orphan, schoolboy, newspaper-boy, messenger, fledgling writer, family misfit, world famous writer, man-about-town, husband, and father, this book gives us the characteristic fluency of Saroyan at his best, and it introduces anew emotional depth that was to become a hallmark of the writer's later work. ... Read more

Book Description
He was so famous that Saroyanesque entered the vocabulary of his time, an adjective expressing the childlike sweetness, the evocation of loneliness, the innocence that characterized his work.

His name was known to anyone in America who read a magazine, listened to the radio, cared about theater, or bought a book. At one time he had three plays simultaneously on Broadway, including My Heart’s in the Highlands and The Time of Your Life (which won the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics’ Circle Award). His first collection of stories, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, was published by Bennett Cerf when Saroyan was twenty-six years old; it was a critical and commercial success. Saroyan went to Hollywood and wrote The Human Comedy over a Christmas holiday; it became a major wartime movie and won him an Oscar for best screenplay.
His writing was a mixture of old-world suffering and new-world optimism. But for all of his promise and brilliance, and his half-century struggle to reach the pantheon of American writers, his gift was not large enough to sustain him.

Now, in this full-scale biography, John Leggett gives us Saroyan whole, from the immigrant boy and his lonely orphanage years to the internationally acclaimed American writer. Here is the all-encompassing story
—the fun, the follies, the lights, and the shadows of his life.

Leggett writes about Saroyan’s roller-coaster courtship and two marriages to the beautiful Carol Marcus (she was seventeen and he thirty-four when they met); about his relationships with his publishers and with his long-time agent, Hal Matson; about his friendships with Budd Schulberg, Irwin Shaw, George Jean Nathan, and others, and the many productions (on Broadway and off) of Saroyan’s plays. He writes about Saroyan’s constant struggle with his addictions to gambling and extravagant living . . . his disappointments as a writer and his undiminished belief in his own talent, a belief that it would prevail, no matter how many colleagues turned away from his excesses and his demands.

Drawing on interviews and on Saroyan’s letters, notes, and diaries, John Leggett, author of Ross and Tom (“A great book”—Leon Edel), gives us a revealing portrait of the man and the writer whose work charmed and touched the heart of mid-twentieth-century America. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Well written, entertaining and original
I enjoyed the author's style, it was original and well written. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

SHORT STORIES BY A MASTER




One of America's most colorful authors, William Saroyan, is remembered for his novels, short stories, and plays.He won early accolades with the 1934 publication of his short story, "The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze."Following this was a play, "The Time Of Your Life," and a novel, "The Human comedy," which was made into a movie.

Laced with humor, wisdom and understanding, "Fresno Stories" holds 11 of Saroyan's best - sparkling tales peopled by the Armenian families who lived in and around Fresno, California.Each of his characters bubbles with an exuberance for life, a spontaneity that embraces every moment.

In "The Great Leapfrog Contest" Rosie Mahoney, a tough little Irish girl hangs out with the boys.She makes a place for herself by not fighting "girl-style" or crying if she is hurt.Since it was humiliating to be bested by Rosie, most of the boys made way for her, except Rex.Following an argument, Rosie dares Rex to fight.Only the wild and sometimes wacky imagination of Saroyan could carry this challenge to its comical conclusion.

These are short stories, but none of them are short on style or reading pleasure.

- Gail Cooke

OK, read it!
Well, I lived in Fresno for a while, so I decided to read this little book of short stories.Saroyan is not exactly a pleasant writer.There's a certain anger in his writing that flares up here and there.Besides, some of these stories are rather simplistic in their development, almost too contrived, like the first one, The man with the heart in the Highlands.The repetitious pattern of sentences made this story read like a college assignment.However,I enjoyed "Many miles per hour", a story about two brothers who befriend (and end up adoring) a race car driver.This story alone is worth getting the book.The youngest brother is the narrator, a little guy only 10 years old, and he does such agood job. My other two favorite stories are "Madness in the family" is possibly an autobiographical tale of eccentric relatives, and "A Fresno tale", so funny because it is extremely short and missing an ending.

Good to Carry around
I bought this book of stories before buying "A daring Young Man on the flying trapeze" simply because it was cheaper and I wanted to see if I would like Saroyan that much.Collectively the stories are very good with "The Duel" and "Heart in the Highlands" as my favorites.I liked the book enough to buy "trapeze" and have to admit that the stories and "Trapeze" are on a different level than most of these tales.But this collection while not as good still has enjoyable stories in a small book you can carry around anywhere and read if you find yourself getting bored. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Time of Your Life- William Saroyan
I had to read this book for school.Boy am I glad I had to, I loved it.

Realistic period piece that re-lives an eraof yesteryear
I first became involved with this Pulitzer Prizeplay in college. I was a bright-eyed theatre major in deep East Texas. We were blessed with a throw-back of a man that lived his directorial adventures. Our seasonconsisted of the classics......Glass Menajerie, Our Town, Dark of the Moon,and a great play by Truman Capote, The Grass Harp.(his only play)

In thelate sixties we were taken on a trip with The Time of our Life that rivaledthe Timothy Leary escapades that filled the air with this soulfull story oflives crossing paths with eachother. The author's preface to the playtells of the destiny we carry as we impact the people we meet and seethroughout the time of our life. You create the plot fromvinnettes thatpass before your eyes like the music videos and sound bites we have come toexpect in this decade of speed.

Slow down, take your time, and escape toa world long gone by. You are the voyuer and casual observer at Nick's, onthe Embarcadero, in the sepiatone fog of San Francisco at the turn of thecentury. You relate to these characters as they 'strut and fret' theircommon lives in three acts. It is a play you will place on your bookshelfand cherish as a family album.

By the way, our production of the show wasselected one of ten in the nation to be honored in Washington, DC at Ford'sTheatre, and be recognized by the American College Theatre Festival/KennedyCenter. We were living large with an old story in a very 'new' time. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (68)

Surprised by all the acclaim
I came across this book for the first time this summer while tutoring a student (I teach high school English).I must say I am baffled that this made the summer reading list along with the likes of literature such as Animal Farm and To Kill A Mockingbird.To me it seemed a far inferior novel to other such classics.I found it disjointed and lacking in development. I was disappointed in that I felt no great connection to any of the characters.No matter how hard I tried, I just never felt invested.The sprinkling of meaningful speeches felt forced and unnatural. When I started, I had hoped that this might be a nice companion piece to the Odyssey for my students due to all of the allusions, but I don't see myself teaching this.Throughout my reading, I continued to wait, hoping to be converted and buy into what others seem to value in the text.It just never happened for me.

Human Comedy
Classic story about family and impact of WWII.Never grows old, a book to be read and enjoyed over and over.

The Human Comedy--Pathos and Humor, Joy and Sorrow
Wonderful, feel-good book about family and moral values...Humor and pathos of life properly and wonderfullly mixed...

Though it was written during World War II, it is still a great read, well worth the short time and little effort needed to read and enjoy it...especially meaningful in time of war, rather it be a World War or war in Iraq and Afghanistan...

The world--Ithaca and the United States--was probably never this good, never this pure, but it brings to mind and to heart our highest and finest moments and makes us wish there were more of them.And there could be, if we would pursue the hightest in man, not the lowest.

If it could only be true
This uplifting and poignant little novel is probably how Saroyan will best be remembered. Saroyan's faith in the inherent goodness of human beings, even in the midst of the horrors of WWII, remained unshaken, and the book is populated by memorable characters who somehow manage to transcend the banal, evil vicissitudes of the war without being dehumanized and debased by it, as many others were. But Saroyan's unshakable and seemingly naive faith in people was belied by the stark reality of the war, and after WWII his fame declined, although he had been one of the most famous writers of the period between the two wars, including a stint on Broadway where he wrote many plays in addition to his novels. But this book remains a vivid and appealing testament to a failed belief in a noble idea of a human race that unfortunately doesn't exist. If only humans were truly like this, and this noble, but unfortunately for Saroyan and for his legacy, they aren't.

A modern classic ... but not exactly comedy
The Human Comedy is an exelent peice of literature, filled to the brim with many things encountetred in life. It warms the heart with some bits, and shreds it to peices with others. Saroyans words will be rembered by most all the readers who have had the pleasure of this book.
Even so, it is not for all. The most dissapointing factor in the text would probably be the length of it. The book has great writing, but doesnt continue on and leaves the reader starving for more and ending up going hungry.
Another drawback is the writting style. It is simple enough for a third grader to read and undersand more or less. Even if the ideas can seem profound and the charecters will worm their ways into our hearts, it leaves a person who read and understood 'Hamlet' at seven a little dissapointed.
Even with these short comings, The Human Comedy is a heart warming tale that never fails to touch me deeply. I have re-read it once a year for four years, and I never get boared(sp?). One of the better books that Saroyan has written, its one of the three ones still in print, and rightfully so.
One more thing you should be warned about is the constant switch of charecters that goes on each new chapter. It can be a little dissorienting at first, but you will get used to it if you just hold on long enough. I recomend this book, written in the third person with enough soul for a planet, to anyone looking for a short read that will touch them and warm their hearts forever.

P.S.: To those gullable(sp?) enough to trust my advice, I must warn you: Be prepared for heartbreking facts that come up and hurt the charecters that you have grown to truly love, and rejoice will all your heart when something good happens to you. Though not truly to be considered comedy, I bet you will laugh at least inwardly at things such as The Nose Speeck that Homer delivers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

My name is Aram
This is a nice small book of short stories which offers a pleasing weekend or evening read. Book is about a young boy by name Aram Garoghlanian and his family, Armenian immigrants living in Fresno, CA. It describes Aram's adventures during his early teenage years and events happening in his great and proud tribe of Garoghlanians.

Book is base on episodes of the author's childhood, and the characters of Aram's tribe are based on real individuals, Saroyan's relatives. The book is sensitive and pleasant, and each of the 14 chapters, is written as a separate short-story.

My Name Is Aram
I am a high school student, and we read an excerpt from this book in our literature class. I immediately was intrigued by Saroyan's method of writing and the fact that his novels are autobiographical. This is a story of Aram Garoghlanian, a boy living in Fresno with his large family of Armenian immigrants. Throughout the book, such ideas are touched upon as maturity, honesty, and acceptance. My Name is Aram is a portrait not only of Aram Garoghlanian and William Saroyan himself, but Americans in general. Americans struggle with basic values and ideas everyday, and accepting our eccentric family members is something we learn to do. Saroyan describes small details in hi writing that bring the story to life and open up a new world. Readers will soon realize when they open this novel that each of us holds Aram inside us, whether it means we struggle with the idea of stealing a horse or keeping the families reputation. I strongly recommend this book to anyone.

I recommend this book for the people who like reading book
At first when I read the first page,I thought that it is a very good book for everybody.After I read all of them, Iam filled with admiration.It tell us "THE LIFE OF AN ARMENIAN FAMILY IN THE BEAUTIFUL SAN JUAQUIN VALLEY".It is a very fun and easy book to read.

Excellent book
The book is composed of different events that happened in the author's life.It is the life of an Armenian immigrant family in the beautiful San Juaquin Valley.Although, the story is about events that are happening ina particular Armenian family, in reality it is the life all immigrants inAmerica.The stories some how effects all Americans.I am positive thatsome where in our lifetime we were criticized for a certain cultural trait. It is the story of the ultimate underdog who is determined to succeed.Atthe same time it is a very fun and easy book to read.I could not put thebook down.

Saroyan has to be the best writer to come out of the West.Heshould have been recognized more for his genius work. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of William Saroyan, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 7213 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
William Saroyan's gift to literature was his humanity. In his five-decades of short stories, novels, and plays, he saw exuberance where others found sorrow and lived a life that was richer and stranger than his fictions. Despite his worldwide fame and his years living in Europe, Saroyan's mind never wandered far from the Fresno, California of his childhood, or his Armenian heritage, and Fresno is the inspiration behind most of his greatest works. The Essential Saroyan brings together the most acclaimed stories as well as a few surprises from one of California's major writers.

Beloved of Armenians everywhere and the only man to win and turn down the Pulitzer Prize, Saroyan's legacy endures today. His work exalts the mysteries of youth, ponders the impossibility of love, speaks to this strange condition of being alive, and above all, declares that the duty of a writer is to have one hell of a good time. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
Series Editors: James Nagel, University of Georgia; Zack Bowen, University of Miami and Robert Lecker, McGill University

The full range of literary traditions comes to life in the Twayne Critical Essays Series. Volume editors have carefully selected critical essays that represent the full spectrum of controversies, trends, and methodologies relating to each author's work. Essays include writings from the author's native country and abroad, with interpretations from the time they were writing, through the present day.Each volume includes:

• An introduction providing the reader with a lucid overview of criticism from its beginnings-illuminating controversies, evaluating approaches and sorting out the schools of thought
• The most influential reviews and the best reprinted scholarly essays
• A section devoted exclusively to reviews and reactions by the subject's contemporaries
• Original essays, new translations, and revisions commissioned especially for the series
• Previously unpublished materials such as interviews, lost letters and manuscript fragments
• A bibliography of the subject's writings and interviews
• A name and subject index