Who is William Saroyan?
William Saroyan is an American playwright and novelist of Armenian descent. He is known primarily for his work during the pre-war era leading up to World War II, and the period during the war. In later years, William Saroyan waned in popularity, as his unique style fell out of favor with critics and audiences. Born in 1908, William Saroyan died in 1981 at the age of 72 in the town of his birth, Fresno, California. William Saroyan was born to parents of Armenian lineage, who emigrated from Turkey to the United States at the turn of the century. His early life was spent in Fresno, California, and many of his stories take place in Fresno, as well as in the Bay Area. His early career was made with short stories, notably “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze” in the mid-1930s. William Saroyan served in the United States Army during World War II, although some of his writings appeared to have something of a pacifist bent. At one point he was almost court martialed for the content of a
