Front:
William
Saroyan
29
FRESNO
CA
22
1991
93706
Virnweis
Back:
WILLIAM SAROYAN
First Day of Issue: May 22, 1991
First Issue Location: Fresno, California
“Try to be alive, you will be dead soon enough," author
William Saroyan once counseled, and this advice was
repeated with brash humor and jovial irreverence in most
of his work. A literary titan whose illustrious career
spanned four decades, Saroyan was born in 1908 to
Armenian parents who immigrated to Fresno, California.
Saroyan's father died in 1911 and Saroyan eventually
dropped out of school to prowl the neighborhood streets
which came to be so lovingly portrayed in his publications.
In 1934 Story magazine published The Daring Young Man
on the Flying Trapeze. Saroyan then authored a series of
highly-popular short stories and novels, each reflecting his
childhood experiences, his faith in humanity and his love
of country. His play The Time of Your Life won a Pulitzer
Prize, and his novel The Human Comedy evolved into an
Academy Award-winning movie. Jointly issued by the
United States and the Soviet Union, the stamp on this
Maximum Card honors William Saroyan, whose death in
1981 created a tremendous void in the literary world.
No. 91-28
©1991 The Maximum Card Collection
A division of Unicover Corporation • Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007
® Original painting for the Maximum Card by Shannon Stirnweis
