BABAJANYAN MAKSIM11-5

198 High School

William Saroyan was born on August William Saroyan was born on August 31, 1908 in Fresno, California to 31, 1908 in Fresno, California to Armenak and Takoohi Saroyan, Armenak and Takoohi Saroyan,

Armenian immigrants from Armenian immigrants from Bitlis, , Ottoman Empire. His father came to Ottoman Empire. His father came to

New York in 1905 and started New York in 1905 and started preaching in Armenian Apostolic preaching in Armenian Apostolic

Churches. In 1921 Saroyan attended Churches. In 1921 Saroyan attended the Technical School in order to learn the Technical School in order to learn

to type.to type.At the age of three, after his father's At the age of three, after his father's

death, Saroyan, along with his death, Saroyan, along with his brother and sister, was placed in an brother and sister, was placed in an orphanage in Oakland, California. He orphanage in Oakland, California. He

later went on to describe his later went on to describe his experience in the orphanage in his experience in the orphanage in his writings. Five years later, the family writings. Five years later, the family

reunited in Fresno, where his reunited in Fresno, where his mother, Takoohi, had already mother, Takoohi, had already secured work at a cannery. He secured work at a cannery. He

continued his education on his own, continued his education on his own, supporting himself with jobs, such as supporting himself with jobs, such as working as an office manager for the working as an office manager for the San Francisco Telegraph Company.San Francisco Telegraph Company.

Saroyan decided to become a writer after his mother showed him some of his father's writings. A few of his early short articles were published in Overland Monthly. His first stories appeared in the 1930s. Among these was "The Broken Wheel", written under the name Sirak Goryan and published in the Armenian journal Hairenik in 1933. Many of Saroyan's stories were based on his childhood experiences among the Armenian-American fruit growers of the San Joaquin Valley or dealt with the root lessness of the immigrant. The short story collection My Name is Aram (1940), an international bestseller, was about a young boy and the colorful characters of his immigrant family. It has been translated into many languages. . In 1942 he was posted to London in as a part of a film unit and narrowly avoided a court martial, when his novel The Adventures of Wesley Jackson (1946) turned out to be pacifist.

As a writer, Saroyan made his breakthrough in Story magazine with The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), the title taken from the nineteenth century song of the same title. The protagonist is a young, starving writer who tries to survive in a Depression-ridden society.

Saroyan served in the US Army during World War II. He was stationed in Astoria, Queens, spending much of his time at the Lombardy Hotel in Manhattan, far from Army personnel. In 1942, he was posted to London as part of a film unit. He narrowly avoided a court martial when his novel, The Adventures of Wesley Jackson, was seen as advocating pacifism.

Saroyan worked rapidly, hardly editing his text, and drinking and gambling away much of his earnings. From 1958 on, he mainly resided in a Paris apartment.

Career

Saroyan was hired to write the screenplay for and direct the film for MGM. When Louis B. Mayer balked at its length, Saroyan would not compromise and was removed from the project. He then turned the script into a novel, publishing it just prior to the film's release. This novel is often credited as the source for the movie when in fact the reverse is true. The novel is the basis for a 1983 musical of the same name. In the novellas The Assyrian and other stories (1950) and in The Laughing Matter (1953) Saroyan mixed allegorical elements within a realistic novel.

The plays Sam Ego's House (1949) and The Slaughter of the Innocents (1958) were not as successful as his prewar plays. Many of Saroyan's later plays, such as The Paris Comedy (1960), The London Comedy (1960), and Settled Out of Court (1969), premiered in Europe. Manuscripts of a number of unperformed plays are now at Stanford University with his other papers.

Books The Daring Young Man on

the Flying Trapeze (1935) Inhale and Exhale (1936) Three Times Three (1936) Little Children (1937) The Trouble With Tigers (1938) Love Here Is My Hat (1938) My Name Is Aram (1940) The Human Comedy (1943) The Adventures of Wesley

Jackson (1946) Rock Wagram (1951) Tracy's Tiger (1952) The Bicycle Rider in

Beverly Hills (1952) The Laughing Matter (1953) Love (1955)

Mama I Love You (1956) Papa You're Crazy (1957) Here Comes, There Goes,

You Know Who (1962) Gaston (1962) One Day in the Afternoon of

the World (1964) The Man with the Heart in

the Highlands and other stories (1968)

Days of Life and Death and Escape to the Moon (1970)

Places Where I've Done Time 1972 (original printing possibly 1957)

Chance Meetings (1978) Obituaries (1979) Births (1983) My name is Saroyan (1983) Madness in the Family (1988) Boys and Girls Together (1995)

He died in 1911 from peritonitis, after drinking a forbidden glass of water given by his wife, Takoohi. Saroyan was put in an orphanage in Alameda with his brothers. Six years later the family reunited in Fresno, where Takoohi had obtained work in a cannery.