William Saroyan

William Saroyan , 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 (1908–81) US novelist, short-story writer, and dramatist. Saroyan followed the success of his first play, My Heart's in the Highlands (1939), with the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Time of Your Life (1939) and the autobiographical My Name is Aram (1940). His subsequent works were less successful, although The Cave Dwellers (1957) received some critical acclaim.