Saroyan, William


Saroyan, William

(səroi`ən), 1908–81, American author, b. Fresno, Calif. Of Armenian background and extremely prolific, he created works that combine optimism, sentimentality, and a rhapsodic love of country. These include plays such as The Time of Your Life (1939; Pulitzer Prize), My Heart's in the Highlands (1939), and The Cave Dwellers (1957); novels, including The Human Comedy (1942; he won a 1943 Academy Award for the screenplay he adapted from the book) and Boys and Girls Together (1963); short-story volumes, notably The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), his first published book, and My Name is Aram (1940); and such autobiographical works as Here Comes, There Goes You Know Who (1961) and Places Where I've Done Time (1972). Saroyan fell out of fashion in the post–World War II era and, although he continued to produce masses of manuscripts, he never again captured wide popular attention.

Bibliography

See memoir by V. Samuelian (1985); biographies by L. Lee and B. Gifford (1984) and J. Leggett (2002); studies by D. S. Calonne (1983), E. H. Foster (1984), and N. Balakian (1998).

Saroyan, William

 

Born Aug. 31, 1908, in Fresno, Calif. American writer.

Saroyan is the son of Armenian emigrants. He has lived in Europe since 1960. His first book was the short-story collection The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), which was followed by Inhale and Exhale (1936), Little Children (1937), The Trouble With Tigers (1938), My Name Is Aram (1940), Rock Wagram (1951), and The Whole Voyald and Other Stories (1956). Saroyan’s plays were first staged in the late 1930’s. They include My Heart’s in the Highlands (1939), The Time of Your Life (1939, Pulitzer Prize), The Cave Dwellers (1939), and Get Away, Old Man (1944).

Saroyan has written the novels The Human Comedy (1943; Russian translation, 1958) and The Adventures of Wesley Jackson (1946; Russian translation, 1959) and various works depicting family and psychological conflicts among intellectuals, for example, Mama, I Love You (1956; Russian translation, 1970), Papa, You’re Crazy (1957; Russian translation, 1964), and Boys and Girls Together (1963).

Since the 1960’s, Saroyan has written mainly autobiographical sketches, essays, memoirs, and articles on current affairs, collected in Not Dying (1963), Days of Life and Death and Escape to the Moon (1970), and Places Where I’ve Done Time (1972).

Saroyan depicts the life of ordinary Americans, especially poor Armenians, among whom he spent his childhood and adolescence. He writes of his love for the common people in a kindly tone that borders on sentimentality. Saroyan’s works are characterized by the author’s distinctive sense of humor, vivid imagination, and colorful descriptions of everyday life.

WORKS

The William Saroyan Reader. New York, 1958.
Letters From 74 Rue Taitbon. New York, 1968.
I Used to Believe I Had Forever, Now I’m Not So Sure. New York, 1969.
In Russian translation:
60 mil’ ν chas: Rasskazy. Moscow, 1958.
”Chto-to smeshnoe: Ser’eznaia povest’.” Literaturnaia Armeniia, 1963, nos. 5–8.
Put’vashei zhizni: P’esy. Moscow, 1966.

REFERENCES

Orlova, R. “Dobryi uteshitel’.” In her Potomki Gekl’berri Finna. Moscow, 1964.
Gonchar, N. “Tochnosf detail i pravda obraza.” Literaturnaia Armeniia, 1973, no. 9.
Floan, H. R. William Saroyan. New York, 1966.

I. M. LEVIDOVA

Saroyan, William

(1908–81) writer, playwright; born in Fresno, Calif. With unschooled talent, he emerged in the early 1930s from the Armenian community of California that he later depicted in My Name is Aram (1940). He created a mild sensation—and defined himself—with his collection of short stories, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934). His second play, The Time of Your Life (1939), won a Pulitzer, which he refused because he disapproved of literary prizes. Undisciplined in his writings and life—he gambled away most of his earnings—he cultivated the naive, sentimental, and fantastic and failed to produce much of note after his youthful successes.