Text analysis № 4

«Dear Greta Garbo» by William Saroyan

If you read William Saroyan׳s work under the title «Dear Greta Garbo» you probably had a very interesting feeling both of admiration and perplexity whether it is possible to create a short story (in the form of letter) which we can read between the lines and find more and more facts, hints and stylistic means with the help of which they are expressed.

American author whose stories celebrated optimism in the middle of trials and difficulties of the Depression-era. Several of Saroyan's works were drawn from his own experiences, although his approach to autobiographical facts can be called poetic. His advice to a young writer was: "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." Saroyan worked tirelessly to perfect a prose style, that was full of zest of for life and was seemingly impressionistic. The style became known as 'Saroyanesque.'

«Dear Greta Garbo» is a story which attracts the reader with its simplicity and originality at the same time. The first person narrator׳ s speech which he produces in the written form seems to be emotional because of his eagerness to persuade the addressee in his unmitigated and true gift to be well filmed. His uncommon appeal to miss Garbo is shown by the author by frequent use of one and the same stylistic devices, such as parallel constructions (Now I’ll make good and I’ll thank you …), polysyndeton (I never worked for Ford but a friend of mine told me about the strike and as I had nothing to do that day I went over with him to the scene of the riot and we were standing around in small groups chewing the rag about this and that and there…), anaphora (I turned around….. I wanted to see). So we can notice here also alliteration which is expressed with the help of certain tempo and creates a pleasant effect to the ear (… and that and there …). The peculiarity of the letter is that it can be characterized as unpretentious but urgent. Different kinds of epithets (simple, complex) emphasize it (…I had a sort of face that would film well and look good on the screen and I was greatly pleased with my performance, although the little accident kept me in hospital a week). There are metaphors which enrich the speech of the narrator (…so I stuck around waiting for my chance). "The writer is a spiritual anarchist, as in the depth of his soul every man is. He is discontented with everything and everybody. The writer is everybody's best friend and only true enemy - the good and great enemy. He neither walks with the multitude nor cheers with them. The writer who is a writer is a rebel who never stops." (from The William Saroyan Reader, 1958)

As a playwright Saroyan's work was drawn from deeply personal sources. He disregarded the conventional idea of conflict as essential to drama.

Alexandra Urazbaeva

Foreign Languages Department student