Starting Out in the Sixties: Selected Essays

by Aram Saroyan

Memoir. Cultural Writing. Son and biographer of William Saroyan, Aram Saroyan grew up in a world of celebrities and geniuses. His writings soon placed him among the best known figures in the New York School of poets, and his essays and reviews helped to characterize his generation. STARTING OUT IN THE SIXTIES is a powerful collection of essays, memoirs, and reflections with commentary and anecdotes about publishing, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Jack Kerouac, the author's Armenian heritage, his famous father, Jerry Brown, and much, much more. Variously humorous, reflective, and profound, Saroyan's book should prove for years to come, a key guide to the taste and literary values of the generation that 'started out in the sixties.'

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Aram Saroyan is an American poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright. There has been a resurgence of interest in his work in the 21st century, evidenced by the publication in 2007 of several previous collections reissued together as Complete Minimal Poems. He is the son of author William Saroyan and actress Carol Grace, and the father of Strawberry Saroyan.

Reviews

[Laine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho hum. Dated and nothing to grip or hold my interest. Proves the market value of a famous father. Sorry. I really tried to give the fil Saroyan a chance.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

a pretty thoroughly mediocre book. glad the library had it so i didnt have to explore with my own quarters. he reveals himself to be kind of just a middlebrow writer, despite the brilliance oh his minimal poems. he has no problem describing his desires to sell out and publish criume stories, or the fact that exploiting/ telling the world about his father's life is really the only way he could survive as a writer. too much of this book is about the extremely tenuous links b/t himself and other major writers (the one time he met keruoac, or the one time he met ginsberg for example.) a good introduction to squashing the desire to read anymore of his stuff.