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Inhale and Exhale.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
Hardcover
Published December 31, 1936
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About the author
William Saroyan
349 books650 followersWilliam Saroyan was an Armenian-American writer, renowned for his novels, plays, and short stories. He gained widespread recognition for his unique literary style, often characterized by a deep appreciation for everyday life and human resilience. His works frequently explored themes of Armenian-American immigrant experiences, particularly in his native California, and were infused with optimism, humor, and sentimentality.
Saroyan's breakthrough came with The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), a short story that established him as a major literary voice during the Great Depression. He went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940 for The Time of Your Life, though he declined the award, and in 1943, he won an Academy Award for Best Story for The Human Comedy. His novel My Name Is Aram (1940), based on his childhood, became an international bestseller.
Though celebrated for his literary achievements, Saroyan had a tumultuous career, often struggling with financial instability due to his gambling habits and an unwillingness to compromise with Hollywood. His later works were less commercially successful, but he remained a prolific writer, publishing essays, memoirs, and plays throughout his life.
Saroyan's legacy endures through his influence on American literature, his contributions to Armenian cultural identity, and the honors bestowed upon him, including a posthumous induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame. His remains are divided between Fresno, California, and Armenia, reflecting his deep connection to both his birthplace and ancestral homeland.
Saroyan's breakthrough came with The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), a short story that established him as a major literary voice during the Great Depression. He went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940 for The Time of Your Life, though he declined the award, and in 1943, he won an Academy Award for Best Story for The Human Comedy. His novel My Name Is Aram (1940), based on his childhood, became an international bestseller.
Though celebrated for his literary achievements, Saroyan had a tumultuous career, often struggling with financial instability due to his gambling habits and an unwillingness to compromise with Hollywood. His later works were less commercially successful, but he remained a prolific writer, publishing essays, memoirs, and plays throughout his life.
Saroyan's legacy endures through his influence on American literature, his contributions to Armenian cultural identity, and the honors bestowed upon him, including a posthumous induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame. His remains are divided between Fresno, California, and Armenia, reflecting his deep connection to both his birthplace and ancestral homeland.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 30, 2020
ENGLISH: This is the fifth time I've read this book. The first time, in 1967, I didn't like it at all. A few years later I gave it another opportunity, and it became one of my best beloved books by Saroyan, just behind "The human comedy" (to which I give 5 stars) and at the same level as "Tracy's tiger," "Mama I love you" and "My name is Aram," all of them with 4 stars.
In a different category are Saroyan's plays, of which my favorites are "The time of your life" and "The beautiful people", both with 5 stars.
This book is a set of personal recollections by the author, mixed together with fictional short stories. All in all, I prefer the recollections, although some of the stories are very funny, such as "Solemn advice to a young man about to accept undertaking as a profession." But in general, when the stories are sad (and several of them are very sad) I liked them less.
ESPAÑOL: Esta es la quinta vez que leo este libro. La primera, en 1967, no me gustó nada. Unos años más tarde le di otra oportunidad y se convirtió en uno de mis libros preferidos de Saroyan, justo después de "La comedia humana" (a la que le doy 5 estrellas) y al mismo nivel que "El tigre de Tracy", "Mamá Querida" y "Mi nombre es Aram", todos estos con 4 estrellas.
En una categoría diferente están las obras de teatro de Saroyan, de las que mis preferidas son "El momento de tu vida" y "La hermosa gente", a las que doy también 5 estrellas.
Este libro es una colección de recuerdos personales del autor y entremezclados con cuentos. En conjunto prefiero los recuerdos, aunque algunos de los cuentos son muy divertidos, como "Solemnes consejos a un joven a punto de entrar en la profesión de empresario de pompas fúnebres". Pero en general me gustaron menos los cuentos cuando son tristes (y varios de ellos son muy tristes).
In a different category are Saroyan's plays, of which my favorites are "The time of your life" and "The beautiful people", both with 5 stars.
This book is a set of personal recollections by the author, mixed together with fictional short stories. All in all, I prefer the recollections, although some of the stories are very funny, such as "Solemn advice to a young man about to accept undertaking as a profession." But in general, when the stories are sad (and several of them are very sad) I liked them less.
ESPAÑOL: Esta es la quinta vez que leo este libro. La primera, en 1967, no me gustó nada. Unos años más tarde le di otra oportunidad y se convirtió en uno de mis libros preferidos de Saroyan, justo después de "La comedia humana" (a la que le doy 5 estrellas) y al mismo nivel que "El tigre de Tracy", "Mamá Querida" y "Mi nombre es Aram", todos estos con 4 estrellas.
En una categoría diferente están las obras de teatro de Saroyan, de las que mis preferidas son "El momento de tu vida" y "La hermosa gente", a las que doy también 5 estrellas.
Este libro es una colección de recuerdos personales del autor y entremezclados con cuentos. En conjunto prefiero los recuerdos, aunque algunos de los cuentos son muy divertidos, como "Solemnes consejos a un joven a punto de entrar en la profesión de empresario de pompas fúnebres". Pero en general me gustaron menos los cuentos cuando son tristes (y varios de ellos son muy tristes).
October 3, 2023
It’s Wednesday, the 27th of September of the year 2023. As I write these words, an endless caravan of cars is slowly moving from Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) to the Armenian border... After nine months of forcible blockade and starvation, it seems that the Armenians of Artsakh are free again to move, to communicate with the outside world or to visit Armenia… Alas, only to abandon their ancestral homes… to escape from those that want to kill and destroy them… over a century later the same perpetrators are still obsessed with the idea and the desire of destroying every Armenian and everything Armenian… the exodus of the Armenian people from Artsakh is nothing short of a new genocide… a new genocide but still as silent and unnoticed as the old one… Ironic!
It’s Wednesday, the 27th of September of the year 2023… with every leaving car… with every shutting door… with every vanishing heartbeat, with every tombstone of a loved one left behind we - the Armenians everywhere around the world - die… the pain we feel is impossible to transmit… it feels like a bad dream… you want to scream, but your voice won’t come out… you want to wake up and forget… but you’re already wide awake… and so we die… we die as a whole and we die as particles of a whole… but then we also survive… we have to survive… as survival is as deeply imbedded in our genetic code as the suffering…
Today, more than ever, William Saroyan’s words echo in my heart…
“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose history is ended, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, whose literature is unread, whose music is unheard, whose prayers are no longer uttered.
Go ahead, destroy this race. Let us say that it is again 1915. There is war in the world. Destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them from their homes into the desert. Let them have neither bread nor water. Burn their houses and their churches. See if they will not live again. See if they will not laugh again. See if the race will not live again when two of them meet in a beer parlor, twenty years after, and laugh, and speak in their tongue. Go ahead, see if you can do anything about it. See if you can stop them from mocking the big ideas of the world, you sons of bitches, a couple of Armenians talking in the world, go ahead and try to destroy them.”
William Saroyan - The Armenian & the Armenian, first published in 1936 in the collection of short stories Inhale & Exhale.
http://www.nedarm.nl/saroyan/inhale_&...
It’s Wednesday, the 27th of September of the year 2023… with every leaving car… with every shutting door… with every vanishing heartbeat, with every tombstone of a loved one left behind we - the Armenians everywhere around the world - die… the pain we feel is impossible to transmit… it feels like a bad dream… you want to scream, but your voice won’t come out… you want to wake up and forget… but you’re already wide awake… and so we die… we die as a whole and we die as particles of a whole… but then we also survive… we have to survive… as survival is as deeply imbedded in our genetic code as the suffering…
Today, more than ever, William Saroyan’s words echo in my heart…
“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose history is ended, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, whose literature is unread, whose music is unheard, whose prayers are no longer uttered.
Go ahead, destroy this race. Let us say that it is again 1915. There is war in the world. Destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them from their homes into the desert. Let them have neither bread nor water. Burn their houses and their churches. See if they will not live again. See if they will not laugh again. See if the race will not live again when two of them meet in a beer parlor, twenty years after, and laugh, and speak in their tongue. Go ahead, see if you can do anything about it. See if you can stop them from mocking the big ideas of the world, you sons of bitches, a couple of Armenians talking in the world, go ahead and try to destroy them.”
William Saroyan - The Armenian & the Armenian, first published in 1936 in the collection of short stories Inhale & Exhale.
http://www.nedarm.nl/saroyan/inhale_&...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews