My Name Is Aram was published by Harcourt, Brace in 1940. The stories are told by Aram Garoghlanian — a boy growing up in Fresno, California, in an extended Armenian family that includes every possible human type: Uncle Melik the farmer, Uncle Khosrove the loud philosopher (“It is no harm! Pay no attention to it!”), Cousin Mourad the horse thief, Uncle Zorab the failed poet.
The Garoghlanian family is based transparently on Saroyan’s own: Armenian immigrants who settled in California’s San Joaquin Valley, farming, arguing, failing, surviving, maintaining their culture while their children became American. The stories capture the specific texture of immigrant life: the old language spoken at home, the strange food, the relatives whose behavior would embarrass any child, and the simultaneous pride and shame of being different.
“The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” — the collection’s most famous story — follows Aram and Mourad who “borrow” a neighbor’s horse for summer riding, knowing that no Garoghlanian would steal. The comedy depends on the family’s reputation for honesty conflicting with the fact of the horse’s presence in their barn. Saroyan handles the tone perfectly: comic, warm, and true to the child’s perspective.
Collecting My Name Is Aram
First edition (Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1940): Cloth boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition with jacket, fine/fine: $100–$300
- Without jacket, very good: $30–$80
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation. Saroyan’s most beloved book.
Fresno Boyhood
My Name Is Aram (1940) is a collection of linked stories about an Armenian-American boy growing up in Fresno, California — the most autobiographical and enduringly popular of Saroyan’s books. The stories are loosely based on Saroyan’s own childhood among Armenian immigrants, and the extended Garoghlanian family — eccentric, quarrelsome, generous, and indestructible — is drawn with deep affection. The book captures a vanished world of small-town California with warmth and humor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How autobiographical is this? Very — the Garoghlanian family closely mirrors Saroyan’s own family, and the Fresno setting is drawn directly from his childhood. Saroyan always insisted that his best material came from his Armenian heritage and his Fresno boyhood.