The Human Comedy was published by Harcourt, Brace in 1943. Homer Macauley is fourteen years old, living in Ithaca, California (a fictionalized Fresno). His older brother Marcus is serving overseas. Homer works as a telegraph messenger for the Postal Telegraph office — which means he is the one who delivers the War Department telegrams that begin “The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret…”
The novel follows Homer through a series of encounters: with Mr. Grogan, the aging telegraph operator who drinks to endure the messages he transmits; with his mother Katie, who holds the family together through faith and labor; with his little brother Ulysses, who observes the world with wordless wonder; and with the townspeople of Ithaca, each living through the war in their own way.
Saroyan wrote the story first as a screenplay (which became an MGM film in 1943, winning him an Oscar for Best Story) and then expanded it into a novel. The book was an enormous bestseller — its optimism about American small-town life and its faith in ordinary people’s goodness spoke to a wartime audience that needed reassurance.
Collecting The Human Comedy
First edition (Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1943): 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.
Wartime Ithaca
The Human Comedy (1943) is Saroyan’s most popular novel, set in the fictional town of Ithaca, California, during World War II. Fourteen-year-old Homer Macauley works as a telegraph messenger, delivering War Department telegrams that bring news of death to families in his town — while his own brother Marcus is fighting overseas. Saroyan wrote the story first as a screenplay for MGM (the film, starring Mickey Rooney, preceded the book), then expanded it into a novel. The book is unabashedly sentimental and life-affirming, qualities that made it a massive wartime bestseller. It remains deeply loved by readers who value emotional honesty over ironic detachment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the sentimentality a problem? For some critics, yes — Saroyan’s refusal to be cynical or ironic about human goodness strikes many modern readers as naive. His defenders argue that his emotional directness takes more courage than fashionable pessimism, and that the novel’s power lies precisely in its willingness to believe in people.