The human comedy

Title:

The human comedy

Author:

Saroyan, William, 1908-1981, author.

Summary:

The place is Ithaca, in California's San Joaquin Valley. The time is World War II. The family is the Macauleys -- a mother, sister, and three brothers whose struggles and dreams reflect those of America's second-generation immigrants. In particular, fourteen-year-old Homer, determined to become one of the fastest telegraph messengers in the West, finds himself caught between reality and illusion as delivering his messages of wartime death, love, and money brings him face-to-face with human emotion at its most naked and raw. Gentle, poignant and richly autobiographical, this delightful novel shows us the boy becoming the man in a world that even in the midst of war, appears sweeter, safer and more livable than out own.

General Note:

A Laurel edition.

Edition:

Rev. by the author.

Physical Description:

192 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm

Subject Term:

World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction.

Families -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

California -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Dell,

Publication Date:

1971

ISBN:

9780440339335

9780151423019

Publication Information:

Call Number:

SAROYAN

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003377747	Adult Fiction	SAROYAN	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

The inspiration for the major motion picture Ithaca, directed by and starring Meg Ryan--with a cast that includes Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater, Alex Neustaedter, Jack Quaid, and Tom Hanks

The place is Ithaca, in California's San Joaquin Valley. The time is World War II. The family is the Macauley's--a mother, sister, and three brothers whose struggles and dreams reflect those of America's second-generation immigrants. . . . In particular, fourteen-year-old Homer, determined to become one of the fastest telegraph messengers in the West, finds himself caught between reality and illusion as delivering his messages of wartime death, love, and money brings him face-to-face with human emotion at its most naked and raw.

Gentle, poignant and richly autobiographical, this delightful novel shows us the boy becoming the man in a world that even in the midst of war, appears sweeter, safer and more livable than out own.

Author Notes

An Armenian American with little formal education, Saroyan was a dramatist who disparaged the usual conventions of the form: "Plot, atmosphere, style, and all the rest of it," he wrote, "may be regarded as so much nonsense" (Three Times Three). His plays have been criticized as formless and his writing as undisciplined; yet his work is imbued with fondness for the human race and contains an infectious enthusiasm for society's misfits and innocents. Saroyan's dramatic career was launched with My Heart's in the Highlands (1939), a fantasy. The following year, The Time of Your Life (1939) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize---which Saroyan publicly refused on the grounds that commerce had no right to patronize art. This play, undoubtedly Saroyan's one enduring piece, takes place in a waterfront saloon where vivid characters wander in and out to come into contact with the philosophical Joe, a man of unending generosity. (Bowker Author Biography)

1. Ulysses	p. 11
2. Homer	p. 14
3. At the Telegraph Office	p. 16
4. At Home	p. 22
5. Mrs. Sandoval	p. 25
6. Mr. Grogan	p. 29
7. Mrs. Macauley	p. 32
8. Bess and Mary	p. 35
9. The Veteran	p. 41
10. The Ancient History Class	p. 44
11. The Human Nose	p. 51
12. Miss Hicks	p. 54
13. Big Chris	p. 61
14. Diana	p. 72
15. The Girl on the Corner	p. 72
16. Going Home	p. 81
17. Three Soldiers	p. 84
18. The Telegram	p. 91
19. Alan	p. 94
20. After the Movie	p. 96
21. Valley Champion for Kids	p. 98
22. The Holdup Man	p. 101
23. The Nightmare	p. 110
24. The Apricot Tree	p. 114
25. Mr. Ara	p. 120
26. Mrs. Macauley	p. 129
27. Lionel	p. 132
28. At the Public Library	p. 136
29. At the Parlor Lecture Club	p. 140
30. At the Bethel Rooms	p. 146
31. Mr. Mechano	p. 149
32. On the Train	p. 158
33. Marcus	p. 164
34. At the Church	p. 169
35. The Lion in the Net	p. 174
36. Spangler	p. 178
37. Ithaca	p. 180
38. The Horseshoe Pitchers	p. 182
39. The House	p. 189

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Table of Contents