„La cosa più importante in una ragazza è l'odore che fa.“
Avviso a chi vuol lavorare nelle pompe funebri; 1998, p. 203
Che ve ne sembra dell'America?
Frasi di William Saroyan
10 4
William Saroyan
Data di nascita: 31. Agosto 1908
Data di morte: 18. Maggio 1981
William Saroyan è stato uno scrittore e drammaturgo statunitense.
Frasi William Saroyan
„Posso amare un onesto idiota, ma non posso amare un genio disonesto.“
Me stesso sulla terra; 1998, p. 41
Che ve ne sembra dell'America?
„Il massimo possibile della felicità è sapere che non è indispensabile essere felici.“
Il mio cuore negli altipiani
„Se un uomo grande e grosso vi dice qualche impertinenza e voi sapete di non poterlo stendere a terra con un solo colpo, bene, rispondetegli civilmente e in nove casi su dieci quello se ne andrà per i fatti suoi e lascerà voi ai vostri.
Ricordatevelo sempre.
Ma non sempre, si capisce, il trucco funziona. Ogni regola ha le sue eccezioni.
Pat Hogan, il telegrafista, fu un'eccezione.“
Avviso a chi vuol lavorare nelle pompe funebri; 1998, p. 206
Che ve ne sembra dell'America?
„[…] un uomo non comincia a vivere se non comincia a morire.“
Il mondo e il teatro; 1998, p. 107
Che ve ne sembra dell'America?
Questa traduzione è in attesa di revisione. È corretto?
„Leggere fa l'uomo completo, scrivere lo fa preciso […].“
Settantamila assiri; 1998, p. 21
Che ve ne sembra dell'America?
„How did money ever happen? What's it mean? What's it for?“
Jim Dandy : Fat Man in a Famine (1947)
„You must remember always to give, of everything you have. You must give foolishly even. You must be extravagant. You must give to all who come into your life. Then nothing and no one shall have power to cheat you of anything, for if you give to a thief, he cannot steal from you, and he himself is then no longer a thief. And the more you give, the more you will have to give.“
— William Saroyan, libro The Human Comedy
The Human Comedy (1943)
„One day, back there in the good old days when I was nine and the world was full of every kind of magnificence, and life was still a delightful and mysterious dream, my cousin Mourad, who was considered crazy by everybody who knew him except me, came to my house at four in the morning and woke me up by tapping on the window of my room.“
— William Saroyan, libro My Name Is Aram
"The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse".
My Name Is Aram (1940)
Contesto: One day, back there in the good old days when I was nine and the world was full of every kind of magnificence, and life was still a delightful and mysterious dream, my cousin Mourad, who was considered crazy by everybody who knew him except me, came to my house at four in the morning and woke me up by tapping on the window of my room.
"Aram," he said.
I jumped out of bed and looked out the window.
I couldn't believe what I saw.
It wasn't morning yet, but it was summer and with daybreak not many minutes around the corner of the world it was light enough for me to know I wasn't dreaming.
My cousin Mourad was sitting on a beautiful white horse.
„Then swiftly, neatly, with the grace of the young man on the trapeze, he was gone from his body.
For an eternal moment he was still all things at once: the bird, the fish, the rodent, the reptile, and man.“
"The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)
Contesto: Then swiftly, neatly, with the grace of the young man on the trapeze, he was gone from his body.
For an eternal moment he was still all things at once: the bird, the fish, the rodent, the reptile, and man. An ocean of print undulated endlessly and darkly before him. The city burned. The herded crowd rioted. The earth circled away, and knowing that he did so, he turned his lost face to the empty sky and became dreamless, unalive, perfect.
„In the end, today is forever, yesterday is still today, and tomorrow is already today.“
My Heart's in the Highlands (1939)
„When you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.“
Preface
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)
Contesto: The most solid advice for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.
„There is no such thing as a soldier. I see death as a private event, the destruction of the universe in the brain and in the senses of one man, and I cannot see any man's death as a contributing factor in the success or failure of a military campaign.“
The Resurrection of a Life (1935)
Contesto: I cannot see the war as historians see it. Those clever fellows study all the facts and they see the war as a large thing, one of the biggest events in the legend of the man, something general, involving multitudes. I see it as a large thing too, only I break it into small units of one man at a time, and see it as a large and monstrous thing for each man involved. I see the war as death in one form or another for men dressed as soldiers, and all the men who survived the war, including myself, I see as men who died with their brothers, dressed as soldiers. There is no such thing as a soldier. I see death as a private event, the destruction of the universe in the brain and in the senses of one man, and I cannot see any man's death as a contributing factor in the success or failure of a military campaign.
„What art needs is greater men, and what politics needs is better men.“
Something About a Soldier (1940)
Contesto: Wars, for us, are either inevitable, or created. Whatever they are, they should not wholly vitiate art. What art needs is greater men, and what politics needs is better men.
