The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze

by William Saroyan

Book Overview

A timeless selection of brilliant short stories that won William Saroyan a position among the foremost, most widely popular writers of America when it first appeared in 1934.With the greatest of ease... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000VP3A4M
• Release Date: January 1941
• Publisher: The Modern Library
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

So glad I got this

I read about Saroyan in Closing Time (Heller's disappointing sequel to Catch-22), I was inspired to pick up this book and I'm so glad I did. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book, and so far the preface remains my favorite part. Fortunately, that's because it's an amazing preface that, brief as it may be, would have been just barely worth the purchase price all on its own. This is, of course, not an issue, because so far every story has been a bite-sized morsel of goodness. Especially great for the sort of person who likes to read a few short stories in one sitting, they're compact and plentiful and thoroughly satisfying. So... get this book.

TOP SHELF

William Saroyan was brought to my attention by Jack Kerouac's early writings in "Upon An Underwood." I can see why Kerouac was turned on by Saroyan...and so am I. This book of stories is very inspiring because, in a good-natured way, it defies the conformist rules and regulations that "academic literature" tries to enforce upon young writers. It's as funny as it is insightful...and even a bit bizarre. It easily belongs on the TOP SHELF of any library. Its value is timeless.

Creatively crafted -- never a dull moment.

Saroyan has a rare sense of language usage and introduces thoughts and ideas causing you to stop and realize how the grind of everyday life can be refreshing, moving, and humorous. His writings represent a slice of life in everyday America as well as amusing insights into the wacky right braininess of a writer. Once you get through the first chapter and can stand up again, the rest of the book is one deeper-than-real-life-story after another. Like Edith Wharton, Saroyan has a command of the craft of writing that seems lost in today's works.

Saroyan's first book of stories.

A masterful work. Most of them written in a thirty day period, in which Saroyan promised to send the editors od Story magazine a story a day for thirty days. He proceeded to do this and this book made Saroyan an instant celebrity.Saroyan eventually went on to win the Pulitzer for his play "The Time of You Life", but turned it down.This book was a stunner when it first appeared. The simple yet poetic language ran against the trend of the times.Saroyan is a nearly forgotten genius, yet his influence is evident in even his enemies, like Ernest Hemingway.Buy this book, read it, and then give it to somebody. They will thank you and so will I.

It was the best book I read in the right time.

I think there are not many books, that can change your life. This is one of them. I was sixteen when I read this book for the first time. I was not very happy in that time and I was rather confused by life but it has changed. In these short stories I could read about thoughts and feelings, that were similar to mine, but I had not be able to express them. But angle of wiev was new. It made me to live in spite of the world.