William Saroyan was a celebrated American author whose vibrant stories celebrated optimism in the middle of trials and difficulties of the Depression-era. Deeply influenced by his Armenian-American heritage, he worked tirelessly to perfect a prose style that was full of zest for life and was seemingly impressionistic, a unique voice that ultimately became known as Saroyanesque. Several of Saroyan’s works, including his breakthrough collection The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and his famous novel The Human Comedy, were drawn from his own experiences, although his approach to autobiographical facts can be called poetic. He viewed writing and living as inseparable, famously advising a young writer to try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when eating, and when sleeping really to sleep, urging them to try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all their might, and when they laugh, to laugh like hell.
