Not Dying was published by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1963. Saroyan was fifty-five, his reputation in decline, his money gone (lost to gambling and the IRS), his marriages failed, his children estranged. The book is a daily meditation on survival: waking, writing, walking, eating, thinking about death — and refusing it.
The prose is Saroyan at his most direct: short paragraphs, no fictional apparatus, the voice of a man talking to himself about what remains when fame, money, family, and health have gone. What remains is the act of writing itself — the daily practice that has defined his life since he was fourteen. The book’s title is its thesis: not dying is itself an achievement, an act of will, a refusal that is also an affirmation.
The late Saroyan books (this one, Here Comes There Goes You Know Who, Days of Life and Death and Escape to the Moon) were largely ignored at publication. They deserve reconsideration: stripped of the exuberance that made his early work both beloved and criticized, they reveal a writer of genuine depth confronting failure and mortality with the same honesty he once brought to youth and hope.
Collecting Not Dying
First edition (Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1963): Cloth boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition with jacket, fine/fine: $25–$60
- Without jacket, very good: $10–$20
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
Defiance
Not Dying (1963) is a late Saroyan memoir-novel — part philosophical journal, part autobiography, part literary experiment. Written during a period of obscurity and financial difficulty, the book is Saroyan’s defiant assertion that he is still alive, still writing, still relevant. The tone alternates between bravado and despair, and the stream-of-consciousness style echoes his earliest work. It is of interest primarily to readers already invested in Saroyan’s career and his long struggle against critical neglect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Saroyan’s work being rediscovered? Gradually. Armenian-American readers and scholars have maintained interest in his work, and occasional reissues have introduced new generations to My Name Is Aram and The Human Comedy. His critical standing remains lower than his talent warrants.