"'azett e america j a n 5 1951 Little Rock Ark TRACY'S TIGER

By w:JUtan:-m Sa royan. Doubleday. 143p. $2.50

Fro~ conversations with various ac­ U Fantasies Amuse You quamtances I would gather that TRACY'S TIGER," by Willianl Saroyan (Doubleday and Com· people either like Saroyan or want pany), $2.50- · no part of him. Personally I like Saro­ "Thomas Tracy had a tiger," a very engaging beast by William ynn. In fact Saroyan writes so simply Saroyan out of William Blake, and like Harvey, the famous rabbit, that it is hard not to like him Hi invisible. The tiger arrived with the onslaught of Tracy's adoles· philosophy is remarkably unco~pli~ cence, and although it was actually a black panther, it served cated; he believes that if everyone Tracy's purposes very well, speaking up in crises. and proffering the would love everyone else there would best advice. To the delight of Tracy and the Tiger, they one day be no trouble in the world. This is so meet a beautiful young lady named Laura Luthy, who is accom· ?bviously true that people object to panied by an equally handsome young lady tiger, and all goes well It on that basis alone. On the other until Tracy is caught kissing aura's mother. Tracy loses Laura, gives up his job In the coffee factory, and hand Saroyan knows people, real goes to California. When he (and the Tiger) return to New York people, not "novel" people. years later, the Tiger gets confused with a. real tiger, and chaos Tracy's Tiger is an excellent case ensuPS. Now, to sensible citizens, anyone with a private tiger should in point. Saroyan' s characters do the be incarcerated, so Tracy is taken to Bellevue. And there he finds things most of us would like to do his love, Laura. along with all sorts of miserable people, with sick an.d think the thoughts most of w and pathetic tigers of their own. These unhappy creatures have one think. The story is brief aud tissue­ thing in common-they have all "lost love somewhere along the thin. Tracy comes to New York from line." San Francisco, gets a job in a New A sym~athetie police captain performs the miracle that saves Tracy. Laura and lhe Tiger. The hunt for the escaped tiger is called York coffee importing bouse, falli in off, so that tor four hours love roo.ms at will ovPr the streets of love, has a misunderstanding returns New York, and all violence, crime and hate comes to a complete to San Francisco, comes ba~lc again stop. Everybody is restored to health and happiness, and the va· to New York, finds his girl and they rious tigers assume their proper places in the scheme of affairs. go off together. That's all-except for This Is a sweet little fable, told with Mr. Saroyan's usual Tracy's .tiger .. As a boy Tracy adopted whimsy and pathos. If such fantasies amuse you and mean some· \ a mythical tiger who is his constant .thing to you, buy and read this one. The charming sketches by companion. Tracy talks to the tiger Henry Koerner are worth 'the price of the book.-E LIZABETH Alr a~d from the tiger's reactioru makes I•LISON. hts own decisions. No one knows about this tiger until on his return to New York Tracy is seen walking along the street with a real tiger which Tracy doesn't notice because he bas Union always bad a tiger with him-inciden­ t~ll~ the .tiger is a black panther-and San Diego Calif hJs unagmary tiger had long ago be­ come a reality. JU 4 Needless to say the police and the g~neral public do not take the same VIew toward tiger-panthers that Tracy does. So complications set in and Tracy winds up in Bellevue but not 8ABOYAN'S NEXT before one of the most amusing scenes ofw :~~Ofa Si&ift''\t Jlext wor,k I have ever read. Saroyan's portrayal rger," a novella a;:::~ of a couple of psychiatrists is without maglnary tiger that suddenly equal. Don't miss this. becomes real. It will be JAMES BERNARD KELLEY ~ed by Doubleday Nov.p~~ Saroyan, William Doubleday TRACY'S TIGER $2. 50

More buffoonery f rom Saroyan' s beauti:ful. people 1 w1 th a t hick mix ot symbolic fantasy and some genuinely amusing moments. Thomas Tracy had a tiger, an obliging,

beautiful tiger 1 vho always seemed to knov the right answers in regard to Tom' s Job­ getting, love-JI&king and other illportant problems. Sometimes, of covse 1 the tiger vent AWOL, which accounted for Tam ' s not getting the Job of expert coffee taster and for his kissing enthusiastically his girl's gorgeous a otber, which the girl resent ed very much .

The day the tiger, INCh t o Toa' s surprise 1 became visible 1 and Tall was sent to Bellevue 1 where 1 naturally1 all the md people were nice and very sane 1 almost wrecks the pl easant and rewarding tiger-Tc. relationship. However, sa.e concerted efforts of the police and a psychoanalyst who Just can't stop chattering, help Toa to recover his girl, his past . and his tiger A wild, odd story of s ouls and searches with a wonderful crew of charac­ ters - Just for t he ride.

Phoenix, AriL Gazette Seattle lntelligencer I w c r ' er (Cir. ]1,036) Seattle, Wash.

0 N Sl NOV 10 195~ TRACY'S T I G .... by William I Literary ~~ t~y; .2M}. A A Tom Tracy ha~ TRACY's Trc ER b \V' . At iger that. to begin with, is 1 ( D oubieda ) ' ) lllmm Saroyan / not rf'al and then sudMnly. as y . A short fable about Gui~~~!! Tom and tiger walk down Fifth Avenue, Is real. There's also lovc, wirJJ a whi . I - TRACY'S TIGER, by William . ms1ca · . Saroyan . Laura Luthy, and love, six choco­ ent tiger for a L :mel Jncons,st- lati'S, <-offpe · tasting, and Dr . ,.ero and t . .Ali()y named Tom Tracy has a ous }'oung pe I wo IIIQ"enu PingistzPr in a Bank of England op e Th ~ - tiger that, to begin with, Is not and Laura LutlJ , 'f omas Tracy real and then suddenly, as Tom chair. In the v e ry tetchlng J ' or the Ilightful Saroyan says it's love. It's curi­ and another time with "Tracy's ous how an author goes through Tiger." You'll have t o be mad t he same gestures, writes with the 1\bout Saroyan not to be mad at same e!fervescene and comes out this sJight work. one time with something delight­ ful and another time with "Tracy's Tiger". You'll have to ~ mad about Saroyan not to ~ mad at this slJ ht w~o...,r"'k"-. ------1 (c;Jr. lli,JOYJ

v I! 1811 Los AnCJeles, C•lif, 9!Gbody's ,oolcshe/1- Mirror {Or. t5Ull) The Latest Works.of Saroyan NOV 9 \951 And Jqhn O'Hara Prove Anemic By Carl Vlrtor J.ittle they are, the harder they fall-sometimes. Which is my su ay backing into the saddening fact, right in the big middle of • all~ ason w~en. almost every author is giving a good account o_f hlmst'lf, w.h~n sat1sfymgllboolts no end are rolling from the assembly l!ne, that Wilham Saroyan and J n O'Hara each serve up anemic lttUe numbers "hicb may be - - ~ called no~els by courtesy only. The two books suggest twinning Al'll~••te~~ by the Pair lor review purposes. One runs 153 wmtam SUoyaD (Doubleday): $2.50. pages aDd the other lU paaea. ·~RlltERS Rf*"ICL. by .J811n•G JIUI (Kindom House) The lJ118 In each Is large and page margins are wide, suggeat· ing that the publisher' wants you Although there undoubtedly was no collusion in their ef­ to believe you are not getting rts two of America's most facile· authors have sudden) skimped. 0 ' with pair of parables. These are thin little books Since there is little choice here, I toss a coin to see which comes :~: reade~ who like to peer behind the literary scene first. Saroyan wins so here goes: they have plenty of meat. • TRACY'S TIGER," by ,illiam Saroyan's "tender love story·• Saroytm, Doubkdn,-, $2.50 Is the most typical, becaust It's ~am y l{acy, a young man, balls from San Francisco and a completely UN·typical o{ any· lucky day indeed it was when we thing you ever perused before. got rid of him. \\hen the story Drlefty, it's the touching tale of opem; "T cy 1s hravin~: hag~ of rhomas Tracy anu hi« tiger (who com~e · New York and has eally wa"n't a tiger at all, but aspirations to become a coffee UAter. mythical b lack panther). Some­ However-and. ,)low whimsiral w the tiger comes alive, can even Saroyan get?--Tracy rigbtens most of Manhattan, baa a tiger for a pet. That is, nd touches off a remarkable Tracy can see the tiger, but no one else can. Then Tracy falls in ·h:tln of eventc, love "dth a girl whose name l!Mra. ...u,. t••t sounds like a lisp, Laura Luthy. !l'l'aey'e Ttpr actually 18 But Tracy and his tiger fall out "lo..-e." This .., be hat-d to with Laura Luthy. This happens kline. Bat aadcr Saro'J· when Laura Luthy surprises an's " ·hlm,;h•al maalpala· Tracy while be is necking with ti0 8 8 the y a I II f!OIIlt'bOW Laura Luthy's mother, Loopy cume 11 alln•, j.-,.,t. llk.e the Luthy. (I name the mother since taj:jt•r lt t~~~lf. Saroyan didn't.) The tiger and In O'Hara's Hotel you ~t all Tracy are sad. so sad, and then, h:•t old ma~ter's conversational surprise, surprise, Tracy is walk­ ;kill, plus (if you d ig a b it) a ing around New York and every­ .omewhat deeper mora 1. We one sees the tiger that only Tracy on't offer om lntea·pretatlon of saw before. hi!! brief story of a group of Shoot Tiger cldly a so 1 t t• d New Yor~er!: The coppers shoot and wound <; ttre. t_oo. love, Bill. is a red, red rose or a hough the story is absorbmg moonbeam on lhc redwoods and tnough to swnd hy it!:elf. when sb into a tiger I a- Record Herald Wausau, Wis. Kennebec Journal Augusta, Maine r u THE LITERARY 11 1951 :GUIDEPOST BY W. O. ROODS TRACY'S TIGER. bv \\'il· TRACY'S TIGEB, by WIIUam Sa By W. G liarn Sa.ro.ran tDoubleday· O)'aJl $2.50). • TRACY'S TIGER, by William A boy named Tom Tracy has a Saroyan {Do!!bleday; $2.50) ~ boy named ...,om Tracy has ger that, to begin with; is not re a tiger that, to begin With is A bOy named Tom Tracy has P. and then suddenly, as Tom and ti· tiger that, to begin wlt.b, is not not real and tMn suddenly: as ger walk down Fifth Avenue, is real and then suddeely, as Tom T?m and tiger walk down real. There's also Laura Luthy, and tiger walk down Firth Avenue, F1tth Avenue, is teal. There's and love, six chocolates, coffee· is real. There's also Laura Luthy, • a~so Laura Luthy. and love, tasting, and Dr. Pingitzer in a and love, six chocolates, cof!ee­ s1x chocolates, cotree-tasting, Bank of England chair. In the very tasLing, and Dr. Plngltzer in a ' and Dr. Pingitzer in a Bank of fetching Henry Koerner illustra­ Bank of England chair. In the England chair. In the very very fetching Henry Koerner fetching Henry Koerner lllus- tions, the tiger 1s a tiger, but Saro­ mustrations. the tiger Is a tlgt'r, yan says it's love. It's curious bow but. Saroyan says it's love. It's I·.-:...-... ···--- an author goes through the same curious how an author goes trations, the =iger is a tiger, gestures, writes with the same ef· through the same gestures, writes with the same effervescence and but Saroyan says It's love. It's fervescence and comes out o n e curious how an author goes time with aomethlng delllht.ful and comes out one time with !lOme­ another time with "Tracy's Tiger.'' thing delightful and another time through the same gestures, You'll have to be mad about Saro­ with "Tracy's Tiger." You'll have writes with the same dferves· t.o be mad about Saroyan not to renee and comes out one time yan not be be mad at this aUght be mad at t.bis slight wort. wlth something delightful and ~ another time with ''Tracy's Tiger." You'll have to be mad about Saroyan not to be mad Kennebec Journal (m) at this slight work. Register (e) AUGUSTA, Me. TORRINGTON, Conn. Non-Partisan Ind. Republican Circ. 12,381 Circ. 10,122 ~·I NOV IJazette ' 4bout B_gdts: Literary '!'aunton Mass TRACY'S'\jGER by William Sa-i lroyan lis w. • -- William 1 A boy named Tom Tracy htr a TRACY'S TI GE R, by 95 tiger that, to beidn with, is not real Saroyan ~ubleday; $2.50) Few readers are greater ad­ and then suddenly, as Tom and A boy named Tom Tracy has a. mirers of the wild and woolly tiger walk down Fifth Avenue, IS tiger that, to begin with, Is not Wiijiam S~an than I am. But \ real. There's also Laura Luthy, and real and then suddenly, aa Tom this time, I ~e up. His new love stx chocolates, coffee • tast- and tiger walk down Fifth Avenue, book, "Tracy's Tiger," which the ing. ' and Dr. Pinii,tzer in a Bank is real. There's also Laura Luthy, publishers describe as "a tender of E n g 1 a n d chair. In the very and love, six chocolates, cof!ce­ love story" is supposed to be fetchini Henry Koerner lllustra- ~ tastlng, and Dr. Plngltzer In a symbolic. Thomas Tracy is ac­ 1 tions. the tiger IS a tige!, but. Sa- Bank oJ England chair. In the companied throughout almost royan says il's love Its cunous very fetching Henry Koerner the entire story by an invisible how an author goes through the lllustration~. the tiger Ia a. tlgt'r, tiger. Tracy lands in Bellevue same iestures, writes \\ith thP but Saroyan says IL's love. It's and that seems to me an admir­ same effervescence &J?d comes out curious how an author goes able place for him. Unfortunate­ one time with somethma: delightful through the same gestures, writes ly he ultimately walks out of the ' and another time with ''Tracy's with the same effervescence and 1 asylum to help the police. Oh Tiier " You·u ha\'e to be mad comes out one time with !lOme­ yes, there's a boy and a girl in ·about Saroyan not to be mad at thing delightful and anotht'r tune it, a policeman with faith in the lhi~sli!ht~~rk~·--~--~~--~- "itb ''Tracy's Tiger." You'll have illusions of love. and an imagm­ t.o be mad about Saroyan not to ary Uger which suddenly be­ be mad at this slight work. comes real outside of St. Pat­ rick's Cathedral. But, what the heck! Maybe it's a satire on psychiatrists. You see what you can make out of it. --~~------~ l>peal 'Tracy's Tiger' Is Simple Story ~emphi s Tenn From Saroyan's Gentler Side TRACY'S TIGER. by Wllllam S!!.1.11VJI.Do Do11Q1eday. $2.50 RtYif'Wfd bJ GUY NORnnwt JR., sr.lt nr. CommrrcJal Ap-peal 11 1951 ORGET about thOlle recent Saroyan novels, "The Advenlures ot ov F Wesley Jackson" and "Rock Wagram." And try to remember the Saroyan of "The Time of Your Life" and "My Name is Aram." The gentle side of Saroyan is dominant again in this little book which Is hardly more than a lengthy short story. There are U3 pages In the book, but only 110 are devoted to the text of this contemporary love fable. The rest Is filled with superb ink drawings by Henry Koerner which accent rather than illustrate. Tracy b Thomas Tracy who bas------an Imaginary tiger which l.a "ac- magic! Psychiatry I hate. People tuall.y a black panther.'' The pan- I love. ther, which Tracy thinks of as a In a few moments, the psychia­ tlger, 11 the personification of b.l.a trlst announces to the authorities desires and ambitions. It Is, Sino- that Tracy is Bfte. yan says not unexpectedly, love. Other doctors don't think ao, and The story Is so almple as to seem the young hero is transported to chUdlsh: Tracy's tiger leads him Bellevue where, he has told them into love for a girl, he bumbles And all he "would make the most of loses her, he seek• her but can't hi~ visit and feel just. as much at find her, his tiger of love ~uffe.rs home there as anywhere else, If not and disappears, he finds hts &'lrl more at home." again, and the tiger returns. Sending Tracy to the psycho- The Saroyan touch, however, Is pathic ward doesn't solve the pollee to complicate all tills by making dilemma, however, for they still are the tiger suddenly become real - on the hunt for a roaming panther­ a thing aeen by all New York as tiger which Tracy tells them is ·Tracy walks along the street. It Is imllglnary at this point, Tracy's lowest ebb How th~y coax Tracy's wounded In his search for love, that the tiger out of hiding is Saroyan's now-vlsibl~ tiger w shot and allnks little fUlip that seta the world away to htde from the fear-hatred right. of humanity. a "T • · Tl " y b f t.uy Tracy's insiatence that hi• tiger u racy 1 ger ma e an , Imaginary brlnrs on a serlee of but It Is straight-forward, un- psychlatrlo teet.a. And before the abashed and tender. more mundane ot tbil mind-test- ing profession 1end Tracy off to Bellevue, Saroyan baa a chance to put a favorite m~seage Into th~ word• of a p~rceptlve little Dr. Plnglt.zer. "You underatand ps~·chlalry?" Tracy ask11 him. ·•Psychiatry, no," Dr. Pingitzer said. "People-little bit. Little, little, little bit. Every year, every day - lesa. Je!lll, less. Why? People is difficult. People Is people. Peopltl Is fun, tlay Imagination, magic. Ah ha. eople Ia pain, people is sick, peo le Is mad people is hurt, people is hurt peop1e, Is kill. Is klll aelf. Where is fun, where Is play, ----~----~---..--, where la Imagination, where is Uews Manchester N R 0 1

trations, the ;:iger is a tiger, but. Saroyan says it's lo\·e. It's cunous how an author goes through the same gestures writes with the same .:trerve~ cence and comes out one time with something delightful and another time with "Tracy's Tiger." You'll have to be mad about Saroyan not to be mad a t this slight work. ~bse r ve r Wichita Eagle Charl otte · C

ov 11

TRACY'S TIGER. By WUllam • §amnp (Doubleday & Co. aroyan Has Plucked $2.50. us pp.) A boy named Tom Tracy has a tiger that, to begin with, ill not 'l'llACY'8 TIGER, Sar- The Essence Of Love al, and then suddenly, as Tom &?t h""Med by Dcnableclay A d tiger walk dowu i1fth Ave­ New Yorll. Rniewed by Arda 01!1rrut of The z.,te. TRACY'S TIGBR, by WUllam!York after being gone for six years. nue, is real. There are. also Laura ff.'ow'!j Doub~d4y 4 Company, He went away because he lost Luthy, and love, six chocolates. 'I'bomu Tracy went to the 800 3 pp. i.n. jLaura Luthy. coffee-tasting, and Dr. Pingitzer one day &Dd •• a blac:k IIUlt.ber in a Bank of England chair. ' He e&Ued ft a ttrer and thereatte; Tracy's Tiger ts love, it's the im·1 When he returns, through a the imaginary tiler &eCOmpanied In the very fetching Henry possible, it's all that is essential to strange tu~n of events, the tiger him everywhere he went. He sot human nature and it is also ab- comes to hle. Koerner Illustrations, the tiger is • Job with a coffee ftrm and one surdly but wo~derfully fantastic The tiger comes to life in quite a tiger, but Saroyan says it's love. ' noon a lirl named Laura, wbo was Only Saroyan could 'have don~ a plausible manner. He has to in It's curious how an author goes we&l"iq a Yellow dress, came along. it so beautifullY. o~~er to reveal the story's full sig- through the same gestures, writes Thomaa feU madly 1n love wtth . nilicance at the end. with the same effervescence and Laura &lid &ben cert&1n evmta oc- It IS a short book, hardly mo~e Becavse his tiger is suddenly comes out one time with !!Orne- ' cur. 8neraJ 1eU'I pus. than a lengthy short story, bu~ it 1s alive and can be seen by other Tbomu tlndl h1mae1t bact In of a type that h~d to be pubhshed people, Tracy is forced to answer thing delightful and another time x .. '!'ortr: apm &lid P&Uiel Oil the in book form. It s the sort of work certain questions. He is forced to with "Tracy'a 'fiier." You'll have ltep, of lit. Patrlck'a cathedral. TbJs that must be re-rea~ and saved say that it is his tiger' even though to ._mad about SaroyaD not to time " real tlrer comes alone and Jlld later re-read agam. it is a black panther to others who be mad at this aUght work. J '1'llloaaaa. ~ " • bJa old ~ Saroyan has plucked the ea~e~~ce see it. of love from out of life ~d P~· Actually, the black panther es­ and there are ahota and much run- duc~ a fantasy that Is alive With caped from the circus, and Tracy ==:~~-o:r: ning around. Thomaa 'l'racJ 11 reality. is committed to Bellevue as insane 1 taken to jall and then to Bellevue Thomas Tracy became fascinated because he insists that the panther . , mental ward. How It ftnaUy wlnda with the word "tiger" when he was is his tiger. up 1s lntereatlng and abould not be a very small child. He longed tol He finds Laura Luthy again in Ti es & L ader told to the reader 1n adV&Dce have one of his own. He aiso had Bellevue. In "Trac:Y'a 'l'Jrer,.,. WlWam Saro­ a very strange notion of what a An elderly psychiatrist, one of San teo Calif nn •tarts a brief &tory In rather tiger was. Saroyan's madly human charac- ftlrue manner and enda u the So when'ile got his tiger, an im- ters, has faith Jn Tracy's tigw. A aame but It 1s lnteresttnr. He man- aginary tiger, it was not a tiger at policeman, too, has faith. 13 ages to get a love story across, all, but a black panther. To Trac~. Through them, Tracy is allowed NOV 195 takea IODle alJ' Jaba at PIJ'Chlatrista eXJ)OISes &be public tor ita antlci however, it was HIS tiger. to prove the reality of his tiger TR ' r' ''I TJGI~R. loy \\'IUI•a ll•r o With a swllt moving plot, Sar- and by doing so, to recapture his J8a (Doublf'ti8J 1 1:1 ' • when • wild anlma1 pta on the looee, IOUIII &be pollee a bit but oyan reveals, through various in- love for Laura Luthy. . A boy named Tom Tracy has a not wttbout IJJDpathy &Del creates cidents, how Tracy's tiger be(:ame And 10 the book ends, with this tiger that, to begin with is not quite a tantaauc tale. an integral part of his life. final test that causes strange things real ~nd then suddenly, ~s Tom The tiger is with him from the to happen in New York for tout and t.•ger walk down Filth ave­ time he is 15 years old. It is with hours. The end has a surprising nue, JS real. ;I'here's also Laura him on his first job, with him when twist which have several interpre­ Luthy, an.d love, six chocolates ~offee-tashng, and Dr. Pin¥itze; he fell in love with the girl, Laura tations, leaving the reader to scofl m a Bank of England chair In Luthy, with him when he lost her. or laugh, be glad or disgusted, ac- !Jie ver~ fetching Henry Koe~ncr The story reaches an abrupt eli- cording to the depths of his or her illustration!, th'e tiger is a tiger max when Tracy returns to New own heart.-RALPH MULFORD. but. Saroyan says it's lO¥e. It's C:urJOus how an author goes t~rough the same gestures, writes With the same effervescence and co~es o~t one time with some­ th.mg delightful and ariother time WJth "Tra('y's Tiger." You'll have to be mad about Saroyan not to be mad at this slight work. Journal Providence R 1 of 0

TRACY'S TIGER, by William TRACY'S T IGEB by William Saro>·an. Drawing.. by Henry Saroiv.; Doubleday, 5'75 l'fad­ Koewcr. 143 pages. Double­ IHIF ve., Ne\\ York; S2.60. day. $2.50. TRACY'S TIGER. B11 W illiam S4fP11Cln. William Saroyan's story about Illustrated by Henry KoeTm!r. Double· a young inan who always had a ~r.re >· p r's t'alcnts~";~ :;,­ tiger with him but which none seen {o ttPr~·antage in hi!! day & Co. $2.50. Mr. Saroyan, or his else saw, is novel to say the least. shortPr works. (He haa, 85 hP publishers, have thoughtfully provided But underneath the rather fan· wou~d undoubtedly be the ftnt to a few appropriate jacket adjectives to tastic story is much humor, phtl· admtt. a wide \'ariety of tAir-ntc be applied to this latelt work from the osophy and understanding of life. difficult though they are of exact pen of the master. This is, you should The illustrations bf Henry Koer· know, a "tender love story," a "ten· .§er are excellent. O~'finition.) "Trary's 'rtg<'t" ill A !ltop"l that lh!' rt>llciCI' (~CIS likt derly humorous novel," and tender aa Mr. Saroyan is the author o par~hlt'. too: all about a bny ft om u f t C'J'in~ mournfully, in tiger oJ "The Human Comedy," "The Tim C'ahfo.-nJa "ho ('()mf'R to Nrw plinther language, "Eyeej." all get out Mr. Saroyan has kept it from of Your Life" and many othe Y~rk I~ wor~: <~I a colT('<' import. M. D. the word go. In fact it's so tender that, plays and no\·els. He also wrot PI )l, bl'l!lging '' ilh him an Imag. as they say of some Thanksgiving tur· the popular song, "Come Ona M maly tJgf'J' (which i:-; rPallv a keys, it practic~lly falls apart when House." His song Is much ea.ste black pantlwrl, and nw<'ts a 'gir·l to understand than most of hi l~amrrl Laura Lut hy, who livrs you look at it. novels and plays. -P. S. 111 The story is of Thomas Tracy, one of ~ ~r R~cltaway and has an imag. mary ttgct· of ht'r own: liH• course Mr. Saroyan's innocents, who came to of It uc love do<·s not run smooth the big city, met and fell in love wit h Laura lands in B<'IIC\'UC and Laura Luthy, lost her, found her again Tracy. aftet· his tiger bccomrs a in a mad house, and, of course, lived a·ral tiger (or, rather. a r<'al black happily ever after. There is also a tiger panti~erJ lands thl'a·c. too. but mixed up in the affair. The tiger is there. sa happy ending, thanks to really a black panther. Even more real· a fncndly psychiatrist and 8 couple of frirndly policemen. 1 ly he is "love," as Mr. Saroyan points can assure you that the book is out with considerable more grim· both more believable and mot·c ness than he customarily uses in deal· readable than this re\ 1ew of it: ing with these symbolic matters. There that. Dr. Rudolph Pmgitz<'r is 8 is, further, an eccentric psychiatrist, a co~1c Crf'ation worthy of 8 plarc;o lovable policeman, and a host of other ~stde "11H• Time of Your Life'' ·s type K1t Carson: and that it is only quite mad characters of the that "h<'n Mr. Saroyam bc•gins to talk people Mr. Saroyan's rather special about Tim!' l"you had to stav cloud-cuckoo land. It is all supposed to slow ~om"" h~'r~ insiric of ~·otll'scif be very delightful, moving, and of to gl\·e the at't•ival a place to course meaningful. There are undoubt­ edly many readers who will continue to discover these qualities flowering in the sugary atmosphere of Mr. Saro­ yan's fables. The rest of us will have to settle for the occasional witty conceit and happy turn of phrase which the Sa,;n_ Francisco Calif au thor still throws off now and then. The drawings of Harry Koerner have a genuine charm. 95 -EoWARD J. FITZGERALD. "TRACY'S TIGER" By Wiliem Serewn IDoabltclu A c-panJ; U .SO) ., A DELIGHTFUL fantasy and one of Saroyan'a most hu:nor­ oua aattrea. ThJa llt tle atory­ bardly a novel-matea eapltal of the human traUUea, polnta up a aott-hearted policeman and PGkea fua at psychiatrlata Thomaa Tracy baa an lmaaln ~ ary Upr, which Ia really an I m agln ar Y black panther whtch reta tnto an lmactnaey predJcament when Thomu flnda himself In an Imagina ry love affair. No plot, no suspense no characterization, no complexl­ tlea, but an extremely tbought­ provoklnc hour's readlnr. • Pub-News Post, Baltimore, Md·

NOV 1 i 19tl

Parade Of Book;u v 1 8 19 ove Story By ~yan • We Fished All Night Maybe a -1ale Reviewed by Clark Kinnair TRACY'S TIGER, Jty W'JIIIa111 Saroyan {Doultle· With a Moral tlay). TRACY'S TIGER, by Wil­ EAR BILL: liam Saro:ran, Doubleday, D Come On-a. My House. That song and all are for­ tUP given. By Nanc:r Sandrof I'll agree with you for a while that you're the best­ living American writer. Your latest novel certainly is better Once upon a time !n New York than the latest of Hemingway, Faulkner, Farrell, Steinbeck, City a boy named Thomas Tracy O'Hara. the way, I hope you won't waste any time read­ owned a tiger, wbich was really By a black panther. This was his ing O'Hara's new one, The Fnrmel'~ Hotel. 1 constant companion, but nobody O'Hara, in his search in the far 1 could see him except young reaches of literature for writers Tracy, Once, at lunchtime worthy ot compat·i~on wtth Hem­ ingway, mu~t ha\'e got to ChaucE-r Thomas fell in love at first sight and di!COVerE'd Canttrbury Tale11. with Laura Lutby, a girl in a It seems to have got him steamtd yellow knit dress, but something up about the idE'& ot PriJlilng happened and he went away to strangers, odd types, together in California. a wayside inn and letting them Several years alter he came tell their stories. Quicker thAn back to New York, he was walk­ most write!'ll who have adopted ing up F ilth A venue toward St. the idea, O'Hara ran out of slt'am. Patrick's when he noticed that His novel is only about 150 pages, hJs tiger was visible to all. Panic ~rt like yours. broke out, the POlice arrived, shootinl!'. and the tiger ran away. ONLY COM PA RISON With the tiger loo$e, though That's the only comparison to wounded by one of the shots, be made brtwt't'n his no\'t'l and terror gripped the city. But a po­ your T rac:y'a Tiger, which is as liceman had faith in the illusions charming a tale as ever you've of love and in tbe reality of an written. That; to those who know imaginary tiger. Also a quaint your work well enough to have little Viennese psychiatrist en­ tered the picture and decided taken it to their hearts, it~ saying that Tracy did not r<'ally belong more than a lot of adjectives c.an. in Bellevue, where some people It'a fantasy that's as true as Jlff'! seemed to think he should go. can be. Tracy's tiger is &'I rPal Perhaps this is an artless, de­ as our psyche!>. Your Doctor Pin­ light!ul tale, or perhaps it's a gitzer talks more sense than most tale wlth a moral. We think the psychiatrists I've hMI'd or rt'ad. tiger must represent man's true In tact, Bill, I think you undE-r­ love, and that as long as man has stand pt>ople better than most goodness and good fairlh in his psychiatrists do. heart, his tiger will be with him. I realize this doesn't Indicate We notice that Tracy's iger de­ serted him in moments when he much of \\hat the book is about forgot himself, like the time he for the bent'fit of otherll who may kissed Laura's pretty mother, in­ read this letter. How many differ­ stead of Laura. ent plots are there for a love story At any event, the admirers of of a boy and a girl ? Maybe two. Saroyan will find something else This is tht' best onE', told as a of his to delight them. There are witty, masterful and, )·es, great also some interesting pen and ink writer, tells lt. sketches by Henry Koerner to go with this refreshing litUe volume T OO SHORT by the composer of Com On A­ The troublt' wtth it, Rill, is that Ma House. Iit 's too short, it requirPs too little readmg effort. It's the long, in- tricate novel!<, the ones the reader has to work on, that get most at­ tention. There':; It foolish id~>a that It's E-asier to write a 11hort novel, to write comedy, than a long nov(') and trag~dy. So a lot of folks won't pay the proper due to this or you. Yours admiringly, C. K. Star Washington D C

• • ~~~~ 11e Books Review Man's Peaasui~· '0-~~... ~' Tiger in Saroyan Fable Was Imaginary 0 . Two lotks llaolt-l.oYI ~~~- Up to a Point, Then Things Happened ----l.yR.oLertLPerkin ___.__ TRACY'S TIGER T WO DISSIMILAR books with a common theme, love, head the B1 Wtlllam Saroyan. (Doubleday; $2.50.) list this week. With love as their core, they're not too awfully Reviewed by Carter Brooke Jones dissimilar, at that, even though one ls about a aood-doing tiger and the other is a history of the Bible. "Thomas Tracy had a tiger." up with Tracy's love for Laura Luthy, whom he met when he Wllliam Saroy~ with his usual wide-eyed directness, states Mr. Saroyan begins. "It was baldly that h1s 6oolt is about love, just to leave no question in any­ actually a black panther, but worked for a coffee importer. one's mind. It really wasn't necessary; the tiger spoke for himself. In this that's no matter, because he the last line of brief "Eyeej," the tiger said, watching the small thought of it as a tiger." fable, Mr. Saroyan reveals ex­ boy and girl who might have been Tracy's. It resembled a black panther actly what the tiger means. TRACY'S TIGER (Doubleday, $2.50) is a Tracy had seen at a zoo when But perhaps you wtll have short and gentle phantasy about a boy named he was 15. but he associated It guessed it long before. Thomas Tracy, a girl named Laura Luthy and a with the word tiger which had I have never been among the tiger which wasn't a tiger at all, really, but a intrigued him from childhood. more ardent Saroyan fans. It black panther Tracy had always "thought or• as It was strictly Tracy's affair, has seemed to me that he went a tiger. whatever ltlnd of eat It was, be­ on rewriting his early stories I've been a Saroyan fan almost from the cause for years he was the only and plays. which were mostly beginning, but several of his recent books fell one who saw It, who, when be about hlm6elf In various guises short of my expectations for them. TRACY'S was grown, knew that It followed and his philosophical mu.stngs, TIGER doesn't. It seems to me it's the best thing him everywhere. LUte Mr. which were more pretentious Saroyan has done since THE HUMAN COMEDY. Dowd'a Harvey, the amiable 8- than penetrating. And yet I It's direct and clean-eut and has less of what foot rabbit in the play, the tiger feel that "Tracy's Tiger" is a Perkin one complaininr critic taoed "beery sentimen­ llved in Tracy's private menag­ flawless thing of its kind. The taHty." erie. And yet the time came, as little story Is made to order for It is Saroyan's conviction that everyone should have a tiger. He seemed inevitable, when others Mr. Saroyan•s peculiar talents. feels sad and sorry about those unfortunate persons who do not did see the tiger. Then there It Is not interrupted by a single know there are tigers to be had. The brief chronicle of the tiger was trouble. aside. It 1a a fantasy of claaslc Tracy depended upon is amusingly told with a touch of melodrama, Mr. Saroyan, Yleld1na to a wnpllclty and It stirs in Its swUt some satire on small minds and small hearts and a lot of understand­ general current temptation passage a strange charm. ing. The familiar Saroyan innocence Is here, of course, but this time among our authors to express Tbe drawings by Henry Koer­ under control. aome of our b~ dlfftcultles ner which are 6Cattered through I think you'll like TRACY'S TIGER. It left me with ~ good, in fables, in symbolic ftctlon, the book are In delightful key warm, clean sort o! feeling. does this better than most of with the narrative. ~~------them. Steinbeck tried it in "Burning Bright," but failed to bring It off, though be had ear­ Post lier written "The Pearl," a sim­ Houston Texas ple parable, perfectly. Last week John O'Hara published "The Farmers' Hotel," an effec­ v 951 tive story short like "Tracy's Tiger." The O'Hara. drama had more subtle inpllcattons for those who insist on taking their ftctlon with interpretations on SAROYAN'S STORY OF A TIGER the side. Last year "The Plague," by the French novelist Albert Camua, was one of the talked­ IS CLEAR, THOVGH SENSELESS about novels of the year. Its straight story of a plague in a TRACl:''S T ICER, by William Saroyan, 143 pp, illu1trated by North African city was widely H enry Koerner. New l or*. 8oabft:tlay. $2.50. reported to represent the rise This is genuine Saroyan in that it doesn't make any sense. and fall of the Nazis, though the It is something new in Saroyan because, although Jt makes author never said so. no sense, you can understand it. When Tracy's tiger did break It is the story o! a young man who heaved coUee aack.s out of his own world and appear and had a tiger that no one else could see. As long as no to others, lt chose of all places, one else could see ' t everything was all right, but when they the crowded street in front of started seeing it trouble started. Then the young man Tracy St. Patrick's Cathedral in New by name, discovered the sad fact that anybody can prove York. Naturally, there was a an.~body else to be crazy. Then 'I'racy went to Bellevue. panic. The public didn't rea­ He found the people there quite mad. He also found that lize. as did Tracy, how docile each of them had a tiger: A very troubled one, a very angry and harmless the big cat was. one, a most deeply wounded one, a tiger deprived of humor In the psychopathic ward at and love, of freedom and fun, imagination and hope." Bellevue, where they took Tracy, Wh~t Tracy did !or Bellfvue and how he won back his Iince they didn't know what lost g1rl and his lost tiger round out what story there Is. else to do with him, a psychi­ This is a very short novel. It is full of the figurative and atrist remarked that everybo(ly the symbolic. Such novels In recent years have for sdme un­ explained reason been the saddest of flops. I have gone alo111 was afraid of the tiger. "Every­ with them, only to see them die quietly and unmourned body Is afraid of many thlnas," I am going along with thia one too, because 1t Ia one ·of Tracy said. the best ot the breed. The tiger bad been all mixed So slmple, so clear, so true, it does not deserve to die. W. D. BEDELL. THI II.. I NIIIAM NIWI ~~~:~ • 1 1 1 This lS T racy's Tiger,' some new competition for Harvey' and Francis' T RACY'S TIGIR,Ity Willi•• S.~u ll...,,, $2.50. through hll cloys In the coffee foe tory ond his love offolr. ond t.... lmoginotion ond hope." On the le~~t pogo Soroyon on extension of IN "Horvoy" theme as well, with o liHie • ¥' ~ But one cloy o rtol tiger oppeored ot his side, New York ,.OJ precludes ony speculation os to what he Is driving of by "Francis" thrown ln. This book WOI.IIcl be o blow to Soroyon Thomas T rocy wonted o tiger. lu o child N seorched ploced in turmoil, IN tiger wos shot ond T rocy was token to revealing thot the tiger Is love. And to further lie things lana e•cept for the foci tho! whot It locks In orlglnollty ond the loot ond picture boob. But it woon't ..,il N wos 15 Bellevue for obserwtion. together he quotn Bloke'a "Tiger! Tiger! buming bright In freshness it compensated for by his usual 11enulne love for !hot he sow o block panther In o c• Shdy•ng the onimol • • • the fornts of the nrght." This Is the line which olso gave people. Although "Corne On A-My House' Is o good ,..,., • carefully, he toued e~~ide his cigorll, wolklcl owoy ond soid, TRACY FOUND thGt -h of the mod people In BIIIIWI John Steinbock IN title for hit recent novel. It might be better for Americon literature if Bill s.­ ''That's my tiger." From that moment the lmoglnory tiger hod o tiger: "A ,..ry troubled one, o wry angry one, o ,.., • • • ond cousin, Rou, loy off song-writing for owhile.-cHARLES never left Tracy's side. It brought him~ ond confidence, deeply wounded one, Q tiger deprived of love, of freedom THUS WE HAVE not only on open .-on on Tigert but WHITE McGEHEE. ',.. \ n ~ 1 ~'~~1 El Paso (Tex.) Herald-Post 1 Booksh ov 18 1 TRACY'S TIGER. B71 WUZtam Sargvan Nn~or1c: Double- da11.- $2.50. • About the but way to say what An Unusually Whimsical Mr. Saroyan ··Tracy"a 'l'iger" il, is 10 say what 1t isn"1. lt .is not a poem, not a anort "TRACY'S TIGER/' by WiUtam Luthy, who also has a tiger which between Tom and Laura restores story, not a b1oarapny, not a poliu­ Baroyan. [Doubleday, 12.50.) follows her about. Then all sorts most of the patients to sanity and cal Q1atnbe, not a p>ay, nor as far kevi&W&d by Chad Walsh of Saroyanesque things begin to joy, suggest that the author is as uus rev1ewer ccm tell, JS Jt a happen, and Tom and Laura break doing a morality play, with warm nove~. 1ts prooaoly :;omeuung e1se. This very short novel Is an en­ up. hearted love pitted against lack 1 wowa oe reueveVienna. " Tracy's * * * Tribune Tiger" is not a heavyweight book, Saroyan once boasted that he but neither is it as lightweight as never rewrites anything, that hia Oakland Calif its slender size would indicate. stuff il alwaya perfect the way it In the struggle between a grim, sails out of hit typewriter. I wonder dehumanized world and those who it he still makes such a claim. He still believe that each Tom and also said somewhere that a novel 4ura is uniquely precious, Mr. is a novelist. If that helps one to Saroyan h a s p 1 a n t e d himself understand thil book, fine! But to squarely on the side of the angels. me •'Trac,-. Tiger" Is nothln& but a TRACY'S TIGER, by William pastin1 together of one part "Har­ Saroyan; Doubleday and Co., This book can be read for a sense vey" and one part the Oklahoma N.Y., $!.!!8. -4\ modern fantasy o! " sheer morning gladness at the leopard. brim." of love, in wl\th ~ - imaginary Once or twice, one catches a beast suddenly ~mes real glimpse of a novelist on these pa(es, and a New York police captain but he usually vanishes before any­ is the sort of character who be­ thing comes of it. If you say this book, Mr. Saroyan, is perfect, a lot lieves that all good things lost ot people who agreed with you can be found again. about ''The Human Comedy," ''My .iame Is Irma," and ''The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze'' are certain to wonder why you so drastically changed your mind about the nature of perfection. One who hu followed the Saro yan wit throuah all the facta of llfti and love has dilcovered Saroyan'l conviction that "to the simple all 1 ~imple." If you've ever wonder it you are "simple," 1ead "Tracy' Tiger." It you understand it, per haps you are. JOSEPH LEA * * * * Cour1er-:ourna.l Loui ville Ky

The two very short novels, ne1ther ot them much longer tban a long short Never Show Your Tiger! story, are "Saroyan's "Tracy's Ticer" and John-- O'Hara's "The Farmer's TRACY"S TIGER. His tiger spotted a girl named Hotel " By wm;am. Sa~n. Dra'>in1 8 by Laura Luthy and Laura had a Th~ Saroyan story tells abo~t a boY Hen!"} Koerner. 143 pp. Nnt~ l"orlc: lovely lady tiger, but when Tracy named Thomas Tracy and hl.s com­ Doubledny nud Compony. $2.50. moved in for the crucial Sunday panion, an ima&ioary tiger which ~s afternoon visit with her folks he really a black panther. It also . s Re' ie~>ed bv made an Incredible mistake, one about Laura Luthy and love and pamc TllO\lAS St..CRUE which revealed that he was suffer- and a strange period of complete tran­ quillity in the city of New York when HIS little story from the popu- ing from a complex. It was a nothing at all happened for four hours. Tlous brain of William Saroyan rather ordinary complex, but it This tale seems to burble out of .the is a minor and very modeJ:n myth, shamed Tracy and sent him back same springs that produced "The T~e mino1· In the !act that its hero en- to San FrAncisco to brood an..t con­ of Your Life." U you liked that a­ dures an adventure Ulysses would sider. Six years la:;er he returned royan you'll like this Saroyan. ReallY not bother to relate, modern be- to New York, and suddenly, wond~dul drawings by Henry Koerner cause it employs the technique of quietly, the pressure of his longing decorate the end papers and, fo.r th~se psychotherapy for its plot struc- for Laura and the pain of his days, a surprlsiol number of lDtenor tw·e, ignoring the technique of complex became together too great mystical and religious therapy !or him; he cracked slightly and used in ancient myths. It ls a his tiger became visible, though myth because It describes a jour- the police caU,ed it. of course, a ney of St'arch within the he1·o's black panther. psyche as If 1t were a series of Then psychiatrists were called, happenings In the physical world. and Bellevue loomed, and Tracy, The hero is Thomas Tracy. an llke the mythical heroes or old, ordinary ~an Francisco boY who had to go on a journey into his had a tiger, the ordinary kind or past. into time, to fight the drag­ imaginary tiger every one picks up ons of his subconscious and regain sometime before he is a case- control of his psychological king­ hardened adolescent, the tiger dom. It turned out to be quite an made from creative energy in the adventure, what with the pollee pages. ''Tracy's Tiger" ~s go~ up to form of human desire and hope, as participating and a psychiatrist look very much like a children s boOk. implied ln a. poem by William named Plngitzer going along as Come to think of it, the resembla~ce Blake. Tracy's tiger was really a the hero's talisman, or therapist. might be considered more than plc- black panther, but he thought of But it all tw·ned out well, and to · . it as a tiger, and It was supposed Tracy got his tiger back into in- to do for him what other people's visibility, which is where all tigers tigers did for them-help him belong, even when they are black become strong and rich and fa- panthers. Mr. Saroyan has left mous, and find a. certain girl fol- room tor everybody to enjoy Tracy, lowed by a lady tiger, a girl who even a man who bas never heard would be his girl with a lady tiger o! Freud. As for Tracy's tiger. who would be his tiger's. this is to remind you that when TracY left San Francisco and your tiger, like your slip, is show­ went to New York, where he took lng, you are the last to know it. work at Otto Sey!ang's coffee im- Thomas Sugrue's most rece1tt porting house down in Washington book is "Watc1~ For the Morning: Market. He tried with his tiger's the story of Palestine's Jewish. help to become a cofl'ee taste1·, but pioneers and their battle tor the too many men were ahead or him. BirU~ of Israel." ~--~~------~ a.o.~.a...c.r. Obs erver EUmlntr Raleifth N c (Cir. 764,629) Herald Boston llass 951 NOV 2 5 1951 A Fable of Tigers and People TRACY'S TIGt;R BY Willi "' lJI • llluatr•r..r by Hf'nry . ewspapers4 were 1n an uproar. d•y, New Y.-tl. '" .;;;e;:~·a.so. Tben a dreamy police capuia wbo Time Stands Still Thomas Tracy b~ran imaginary has a~ce~ted the word of a goofy l1:L b,~~ While You Read tiger. It was actually a black psychiatri~t that . Tracy wasa't panther but that's no matter be· crazy, decided to ~ve the youth a s.a•' ""+.IH•yl. • . • chance to get his tiger baek. Bin: Tracy's Tiger cause he thought of 1t as a tipr. Tracy's plan is to go back to the D Come On-a My House. "TRACY'S TIGER," by WU­ When he was 21 Tracy and his tiger coffee importer's and wait for That song and all are for­ lial!.llia! ~Dou bleday & Co., went to New York, where Tracy Laura Luthy to come strollin« g.ven. IDe., , pp.t!l). took a job at a coffee importer's down the ~tr~et the way she used . . . · to. Laura 1s m Bellevue now, but I'll agree with you for a Saroyan's beautiful small novel 0 ne day a garl 1n a h~bt·fitting the cop arranges for her to take while that you're the bellt will be , interpreted many ways yellow dress came walkmg down part in the experiment. She tuma living American writer. Your and called various things: fanta­ !~e street. Tr!lcy took ~ look .at up on schedule, meets Tracy, and latest'ft~el certainly Ia better sy, satire, irony, fairy story. With . the dark ha1r th~t s hme~ .w1~ wbtn their romance begins to bloa­ than the latest of HemJntr!ay, its spare, hard-slugging prose, it hfe and c.racklcd wath e~ectnc1ty, som again the tiger appears. Faulkner, Farrell. Stetn~ is all of these things and more. It and fell 1n love. The girl's name , O'Hara. By the way, 1 hope is a deeply moving love story. was Laura Luthy and she too bad Tracy s tiger was love. So waa you won't waste any time l"'!ad· But to begin, Tracy's tiger is a tiger. ' Laura Luthy's, I guess. At any lng O'Hara's new one, '-:l'he not really a tiger but a black Next day Tracy called on her in rat«;. what ~aroyan . seems to be Farmers Hotel." panther. He calls it a ti!ltr be­ Far Rockaway, but it didn't turn saymg ~ere .1s that 1t would be a cause he likes the name and out so well. Laura insisted on going fine thing if . every~?o

3ook: ''Tracy's Tiger:· bv Wil­ ham. Sgrnzw fhubleday & Co., 'Tracy's Tiger' UJ lJP .. $3.501. lmatinatlo• With Stripes It "ould be nice if, in these o;~=~· a"r~~~!".W.~l!lll!•.. d haras ing tunes, everyone could Is Obscurely .%.00, have In:. O\\n private tiger. The geblu~< that i!ol William Thoma,. T1 aC'y had his. Tracy's Saroyan Is reflected in this tiJer, reall,\' a black panther, gave tender story about a boy, his Tracy confidcn<:e. But it had the :Delightful imaginary t1ger whic~ suddenly lrritatin.,: habit ot appearing only became real, and the g1r1 the boy wben sure of a loving welcome. TRACY'S TIGER. By William loved. In moments or crisis, the tiger al­ Saroyan. Doubleday. 143 In 113 brief pages, Saroyan, ways left. w. ;s. the crown prince of Amel'lca's Tr3cy liked his job at Otto Sey­ Armenian colony, has told with fang's coffee importing house in William Saroyan has written :vivad clarlty the stt·ange story New York City, Even though another book-an occasionally of a boy who needed something delighUul, but too often ~bscure to lean on, thus the tiger. Tracy wanted to be a coffee volume, "Tracy's Tiger." tasfer rather than a sack heaver, The boy, Thomas Tracy, talk­ . Tracy is a young man, with a ed with his tiger, as no one else life had iti eompensatiOI\4, -F,M' tiger-actually a panther and could. It was his companion. his instance, there via• beautiful sometimes invisible - and a pal, his faith. Laura Luth7. Trac1'• roman~ strong love for Laura Luthy Then one day, in the city of thrived until the dar Laura caught who wears a yellow knit dre~ New York, Tracy's tiger became him kissinJ her mother in t.tae and has a beauty that for Tracy real. Instead of walking down pulor. 'Both Laura -.act the Titer is demanding. the street with his imagination, deserted Trac7 In disgust. They meet and drift apart and Tracy was walking down the Trac7 returned to New v .....k meet again. At the time of their street wtlh his tiger, which 7eara later. He wa1 walking dov;n second meetin~, Tracy's tiger actually was a black panther. Now, Uie authorities in Ne Fifth-av one day with his hanb­ During ~is. absence, La'Ura goes tiger. servatiOD. mad ~nd IS 1n a mental hospital. Well the tiger was shot and The en~ ol eouree, ill Sar<>­ Tr~cy s old friends, all made wounded by a policeman, and yanesque and happy. Tracy, wh1le he worked at a coffee the tiger ran away. Tracy went Laura, and tbe tiger are all re­ house carrying sacks of coffee to Bellevue Hospital for a psy- turned to their normal relahoo­ beans. also have gone mad or chiatric examination. · sblp. IntereedinJ with fate are a died in his absence. Saroyan's genius stands out in pixie VienDese JMI1Chiatr.u.t ana ~ Laura and Tracy are united the Interview of Tracy and the pollee eaptaia wbo relu.eea to -:1~.>­ a~ the story ends. And Tracy's psychiatrist, a little man who believe in thinll be can't ace. t1ger d!s~ppears after returning was slightly crazy himself. from hidtng for a brief' moment The Interview starts off with Saroyan's te1 Uttle volume bke.J Tracy Interviewing the psychi­ the usual satisfying side swipes at The tiger, Saroyan explains, is love. atrist, until some impatrient pretense and aelt~elusioo , Out­ news pap e r man straightened fitted with superb peD anct ink Including this known with the things out. sketches by HeiUT Koerne•, unknowns in his symbolic equa­ Then on a bright Sunday "Tracy's ~er" seldom ~lit. l'hi:J tion, can lead to many inter­ morning, Tracy staged an ex­ opul Ja tor the summer pretations _of the work, if you crut . have the. time or desire for in­ periment to bring the panther hammock trade, but perha!lll it terpretation. out of hiding. It was· then that would go doWD jlllt aa ~u on :l for four New York hours there late tall eveninJ.-(00.) Despite its obscurity however were no epiRodes of anv kind­ the book has its auth~r's effer~ no drunks, not even a disturb­ vescent writing and some ex­ ance of the peace. tremely fine drawings by Henry Then Tracv saw his tiger Koerner to recommend it. AS again. Rut will you? Times IARPERS MAGAZirE Post Dieootch Hart'ford Conn StLouis Mo 0 - 1~C::1 v FICTION ' Ti er by William Saroyan. Between Book Ends ~~acy· son! of those high, wide, and Saroyan Discovers -~ 1 ands s~me little stories that one fe~ls A Tiger on 'Fifth Avenue 1 b. very p10· l-4CY'$ TI6U. by Willi•"' Sttoua. IQellllltcl•y, either means somet wg . all 14) ,,•. , $2.50.) nd or else means nothmg atl ' foll About hall way through William Saroy­ but whichever 1t. ·ts, giVes· o·o-o·eat Tp cas- an's "Tracy's Tiger," a work of fiction di "Thomas racy which is almost too short to be called a :~~; .•Y ?r~~ R. T~e~wJ nrc in the ~".7~ ng.. d the next novel, 27-year-old Thomas Tracy walks up Sarovan: Qoubzeaav, $2.50. had a tiger, tt begms, aln al/s it a New York City's Fifth avenue. As he Everybody has a tiger, says Mr. t . you know, he on y c strolls he pats the bead of the tiger which Saroyan in this slight, but intense t ung . , black panther. has been an imaginary friend at his side Liger when really tt sa . . . nd for over a dozen years. study o! a young man in 'trouble. Nobody else could see hts u~el a He never defines, except by impli­ But on this particular day everyone else all went quietly and we 11. un til Tracyd sees the tiger too. People point at thf' cation, what the tiger is. A animal and scream or faint. Armored psychologist might call lt the met a uirl who had a tJ~er too,l a~?) cars surround St. Patrick's Cathedral when psyche. Whatever Jt Is, your tiger still a~other (or was ~~ anot lCI Tracy and the tiger visit to look at the tiger escaped [rom the ctty stained glass windows. When they walk can be sick or hurt or troubled z~<~- h!~ out of the church, a cop fires his putol when you are. the meantime Tracy and Lhe grr at the tiger. The animal leaps away, suf­ Tracy was ambitious and in f Bing out and eventually. were fers a wound in one paw, and hides be· love, and his tiger was lost and a a . ve different clrcum­ neath a Manhattan mortuary building. In spite of thr.eats again~t the dep~rt· then wounded because Tracy's job ·both, und~it~d to Bellevue (or stances, co " says ment by public-sptrited tablotds, the police at the coffee company turned out ll "Everyone at Be1 1evue, can"t find the tiger. Various citizens take badly, because the girl he loved a spe · .. . b d who lost pot shots at cats as th doctol. 1s some o Y disappeaJ;ed .And the oddest thing e • r " As they try to collect love somewhere along nd the Mirror's reward of all was that the tiger wasn't ~~ ~;efou !or the tiger's car­ a tiger at ail, but a panther, be­ Eor Tracy at Bellevue. al "te mad He so cass. Tracy bimsell. cause as a little boy Tracy had the people there qut . . .. agreeing that maybe seen a panther and thought it was £ d that each of them had a uget. this particular tiger a tiger. oun a very angry actually has escaped . . .. very u-eubled ~ne, from a circus. but in­ YOU CAN READ your own a a most deeply wounded one, sisting-'that hl:r own one, . d f humor and love, real tiger has been meanings into a fantasy like this. a tiger depnve o . ination and with bim for a long, You can guess at Mr. Saroyan•s of (reedom and fun, tmag b little long time without moral or devise one that suits you .. When you see how t e anyone's seeing it, 11ope. figure out is locked up at Belle­ bett~r. AnyWay be bad a good fable ends you can try to. lf And vue Hospital for olr time writing it and anyone with a the symbolism for youlrs~ . $2 50 servation. sensitivity for humanity and hu­ you'll enjoy it. Doub e ay, . . William So~oyon A believing police mor will enjoy reading it. captain who doesn't think Tracy Is crazy listens to the boy's Best of all are the paragraphs plan for recapturing the tiger. They cre­ about Bellevue where Tracy Is ate a situation from Tracy's past, when taken after he has lost his tiger. he was working at a coffee importer's and The reader will conclude that not at a time when he had met a girl he loved. only Tracy but the other inmates For a few s~conds the tiger is seen by U1e are saner than the men who put policeman as Tracy walks with this early them there-and all of them, he sweetheart. But only the policemen who find,s, have tigers. have faith see the tiger, and when this happens time stands still for four hours • • • in New York, a description o£ which is MR. SAROYAN has such a better saved for a reading of the book. stringent way with words, it's . "Tracy's Tiger" ts a iantastic tale that worth while reading what he follows many windJng ways with no path writes just for the sake of h!s leading to a solution or a resolution. Mr. style. Saroyan suggests that his story is related He has found a happy illus­ to William Blake's metaphysical poem trator in Vienna-born Henry ''The Tiger." But he also te!Js tts that Koerner, who came to this coun­ Tracy's tiger represents "love," which is try in 1939, served with oss dur­ not what Blake had in mind. Blake's tiger ing the war, and held his first was a demon of "fearful symmetry." exhibition in Berlin while serv­ Perhaps Mr. Sa roy an's book is not meant ing with the graphic section o~ to be anything other than humor and fan­ the War Department. His line tasy and entertainment. As such it is sketches are packed With telling rewarding. Apparently he tried for much detail and movement, symbolic moJ·e than that. But what the reader gets and significant. For collectors ot by way of .measuring are conclusions the American first editions, this little author has reached before: love is good, volume wUl be much sought after sympathy is good, and so are most people. E. V. D. Henry Koerner's pen·and-fnk sketches which illustrate "Tracy's Tiger'' should not go unmentioned. They are the most sensi· tlve book illustrations this reviewer has seen during the past two or three years. WEBSTER SC1IOTT, Ka11$as Citv Advertising Writer. Best Sellers a Sun - Telegram Lowell Mass Citizen DEC 1 1851 l Columbus 0

TRACY'S TIGER., Saroyan, William. Trc~cy's Tiger WUUam Saro7all l'Odbi@8iy. Nov. 8, 1951. 137p. $2.50. How far can a man eo on rep­ TRACY'S TIGER.· By Wl1lJam "This is the story", says author Saroyan in the very last utatiOil! How lone will publish· B• r · Doubleclay; sz.ao. era continue to publiSh pablum, Sometimes I Uke Saroyan very sentence of the book, "of Thomas Tracy, Laura Luthy, much indeed. Then again there and the tiger, which is love". Therefore to deem this simply becaWie the author of it onee wrote some good material! are occasions when I dislike ~ book a mere fable, a tale about an animal that speaks JS It this story can fit lnto any work with equal fervor. There like a human being, would set Saroyan back twenty no half-way ground where be is niche it wlll be placed in the concerned. Either you do or you years. Rather, in the manner of allegory or parable, he fairyest of fairy tale shelves. offers us symbols for recognition and interpretation. don't. This strained, coy and Tboq1as Tracy had a tiger of whtmslcal novel belongs ~quarely Tracy is a remarkable young man who walks about the his own, no, in fact is was really in the "don't column." streets of New York with a riger-sometimes real, some~ a black panther. Sometimes rt The best thing in the bOok is tbe times imaginary-at his side. The tigers, on different stayed with Tracy but, on oc­ opportunity i\ affords ~ere occasions, are clearly symbolic of love-and perhaps of casion, it would desert him. Tracy along the way to read William integrity-and possibly of ambition or purpose or re~ 11 a lover, he has a quarrel as Blake's stirring poem: lovers are wont to do, and leaves "Tiger Tiger, burning bright solve. It is the tiger in him that makes Tracy, a humble New York. When he returns some In the'forests of the night." sack~slinger in Seyfang's coffee~importing firm, go right yeara later his tleer gets mixed The tigers ln this boOk do ~ot up to the boss and ask for a job as coffee-raster, a job he up with a black panther; his burn brightly nor does anything wants, and can do, and would be happy with. It is the former-girl is now ln Bellevue else, for that matter. Mr. Saroyan tiger in him that keeps Tracy faithful to Laura until a hospital, he, himself, belnc saved must have dreamed this one on a kiss that undeniably should have been bestowed upon by tate by a psychiatrist and a bad night.-W. A. L. ~ her finds its unaccountable way to her mother Viola. police captain, who helps him re­ On another occasion, Tracy is standing on the steps of store the gtri. the tiger and even St. Patrick's Cathedral when all of a sudden a real tiger Tracy himself to a normal stand· (that is, a black panther escaped from the circus) comes ing. and stands by him. The startled populace and the con­ We realiZe, of course, that Mr. J'ournal Saroyan is poking his prattling ventional police can't permit Tracy to stand there so pen at life with a direct hit to llilwa\Uee Wis cooly. So a couple of armored cars and a dozen cops the solar plexus ol vanity and close in on Tracy and shoot the tiger in the leg and it other human deluaionL Never· runs away; and there is a celiiation .o' all crime while it theless, it is ho-hum material tn is loo~e in the city. Meantime, Tracy is taken into cus~ k! • tody and is examined by Dr. Pingitzer, a psychiatrist, a wonderful old man of seventy-two whose five children are all psychiatrists and who hates psychiatry bur loves New Saroyan Hero people. The interview, quite the best episode in the book, is a whimsical one-to say the least. T racy begins Has a Strange Pet by questioning Dr. Pingitzer and then quotes William TRACY'S TlG&H. Dy \\ llllam ~royao. ~ biecla;r. $2.50. ~-~~---_,-- Blake's poem at him. Thus the good doctor declares c 'V TILLIAM SAROY AN, of w'Jiom him sane, because Tracy is himself and has integrity. W the reacting public expects With this conclusion Police Captain Earl Huzinga better, calls this book a novel, but agrees. Not so another psychiatrist, Dr. Scatter. He it is hardly more> than a short story, re-examines Tracy, declares him insane, and has him DE C ? Admirers of "The Time of Your 1951 Ufe" and such cxc(!Jltmt pieces as Fantasy and Fact "The Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" havt> e\ pry reason to clapped in Bellevue for ob:.ervarion. And tb~.:rc Tracy TRACY'S TIGER. by William finds Laura, who hardly remembers him and is in­ Saroye.n. Doubleday and Com­ wonder how he could help perpe­ credible when Tracy tells her that she is beautiful and ~ lU,_W York. 143 paces. $2.50. trate the pop tum· "Come on-a My that he still loves her. He brings her back from death. Houte.. and now offer ''Tracy'• This Is a simple and unembel­ Tiger." Further, Tracy love~ all the mental ward inmates at lished tale of • tiger - really a \ ~~ is an unhl:l\s,vabl~ .Y.Q\lJlg Bellevue, for he thinks that all that is the matter with black panther - and of what hap· man who mPand<'I'S through life them is that they are not loved. In no time they laugh pens to it in tts visible and in· with a tiger at his side- a beast un­ and sing and play games and are happy, and the hos­ visible forms. It il also the story seen by anybody but himself. '11le pital psychiatric staff are very much up~et because they of Thomas Tracy, whose friend the tiger bad been for a long time. !._t imaginary tiger,.,as the book notes, are not behaving as they are supposed to. To Tracy's is a study in fant.asr and fa,.., ts really an imaginary black pan­ rescue then comes Captam Huzinga, who mu~t find the faith and fear, and desire and ther, but Tracy simply loves the missing tiger to relieve New Yorkers of their anxiety disaster with its humor and sad· word "tiger." The animal would and to keep the police from being the proverbial "laugh­ nes~ aptly refiected in the excel· seem to represent something cos­ lent illustrations by Harry KoernJeRr. mic or deeply psychological o.r ing stock". All ends well when Tracy and Laura and E. GARLAND ROSS, · the uger are reunited, outside Bellevue's bars. Is Saro­ whatever the reader wants to make of it. yan then writing to potnt a lesson-that love, moral When a real black panther es­ integnty, high resolve will restore the world to sanity? capes in New York city and dashe11 If ro, Saroyan's allegory is diffuse. It is not clear in all to Tracy's side, Tracy beeomes eon­ its Implications. Nevertheless, the book is amusing as a fused and ends up as a patient at story 10 itself, and every reader may have his own turn Bellevue, where everybody has hia at finding its significance. own tiger. Henry Koerner's illustratioN · Larry Bose, outshine the skimp)· text. Brooklyn, New York l ROIJERT J. JlOULEHEN. ~AG I 1t108 (Cir. D. 221,406. s. 588,500) Aberdeen Worid .Tournai Aberdeen, Wesh. Portland Ore OEC '1 - 19~1 The P ...... in the Groove Aaaln New Books RACY'S TJiiiBt.., w._ -.,.. tritll ....,.. ., ,_, «--; D• • , 'xv: .~Bv W. G. ROGERS 143,..... SZJt; 33 01 B ~lfaAcrs TIGER. by w\111am ----REVIEW BY CL S,pm... w an author goes ~ through the same gestures. write;; is Qpieal ., ...... piece ., 'IIPddllc te - tbat. rell, Steinbeck, O'Hara. By the 1 with the ~Same effervescence and ,....,., - • ..,., ....,. 'ftldecl • - ...... a.t Saropw ...,. way, I hope you won't waste any ~-~ . I comes out one time with some- ., ...... ~ ...... --en.. f1lnclwc te time reading O'Hara's new one, thing delightful and another time fal Ill-* r thor _. deddes wllat .... - .... emia' "The Farmers Hotel." O'Hara, with '"Tracy's Tiger." You'll have ... It is to ~ .,...... m .. u.er. ftjedlq...... ,.tks- in hia aeareh In the far reaches to be mad about Saroyan not to ,._ ...,. ~ alter be .. ae­ :Jq---"'zt.c,....., of literature for writers worthy be mad at this slight work. mpanied everywhere by his philosophy that have gummed up of comparison with Hemingway, Imaginary tiger. One day, to some of his efforts. must have got to Chaucer and Tracy's surprise, other people be­ Saroyan here continues to show discovered "Canterbury Tales." gin seeing the Uger (black pan­ It a e e m s to have got him ther too), and It causes a panic. attachment to the sYDlbols of the Catholic church. His brand of steamed up about the idea of Seems it escaped from an animal mysticism may yet merge with bringing strangers, odd type!!, d s Show. orthodoxy, a marriage that could together in a wayside Inn and Policeme-n shoot at the U1er have startling results. l~tttna them tell their Btorles. and wound it, but It escapes and ~uicker than most writers who hides. After a long search for The. accomp~ dnwtop b7 have adopted the Idea, O'Hara t.be beast, amid JDOUidiDa ..... Henry Koerner are a splendid In­ ran out of steam. Hls novel Is panic, a poHceman with a soul de­ clusion, having just the air of vagueness that goes with Saroyan's only about 150 pages, short like ''Traty't 'IItrf'r cides to Jet Tracy try his own yours. '"TnlC)I'II Ti.r.. r" lD111 to con,·lnc" J\mP.r'cnn8 !hill or exciting things to come out of Jon• i~ Rll. ll 1~ A hum~>rou~ ~hort book ends with everybOdy sadly Saroyan's maturity. written. That, to those who know happy. nn' Pl-f,.bl• 1\"n>olil 1>- a ~>-u•r \\'ord­ -AilT CHENOWETH. your work well enough to have ahout Thnm11.11 To'31')' anti l.e.1tr8 Was this book written before, taken it to their hearts, is say· l.u!ln·, whn ,..,..,. on lo.-.., An\1 the during or after the writing of lng more than a lot of adjectives oma.rinar\' tllrPrA that •~l'n•t•ll tht'm. Rock Wagram? 1 am hoping It can. It's fantasy that's as true On11 ''"Y TriiC)' hA•I 11 r•al tlc:-•r ,. th was written afterward and that as life can be. Tracy's tiger Js hun and thl'n th l m:~ r":.ll' II'"' f11hu. Saroyan, in Rock Wagram, mere­ as real as our psyches. Your Dr. tnu... ~1.-. ~nrn\an t~ l•u •ff"l!lh• th;,n ly was administering bimsell a Plngltzer talks more sense than ll~tu•l on lhi~ '""'"""'· h•ot 11t ~~~~ It i• 11 n•w \\ a' nf "" ~·1 n If 1'\(1\' \II'•IJ' purgative. rnost payclliatrlsta rve heard or t';lrl, Rn; J "'•"'~~ nirl, Flny f'..-tl< r.lrl. This book Is far superior to read. In fact. Bill, I think you R II', R. Wagram. I doubt it Saroyan ever understand people better than has written better scenes. One, most psychiatrists do. with an old and wise psychiatrist. I reallze this doesn't indicate Is expecially memorable. much of what the book Is about Tracy's Tiger ls written with a for the benefit of others who remarkable economy of words. may read this letter. How many Except for a beginning which diHerent plots are there for a seems a little out-of-key to me love story of a boy and a girl? and a climax which is rather Maybe two. This Is the best one, "rigged," every sentence Is called told as a witty, masterful and, on to bear the maximum load in yes, great writer, tells It The effect. trouble with it, Bl1l, Is that It's It would be unfair to fob off too short. it requires too little this book as a lightweight because reading effort. It's the long, In· oC its shortness. Rather, the short­ trlcate novels, the ones the ness is an indication that the book reader has to work on, that get was planned and executed with most attention. There's a foolish great care. idea that it's easier to write a Some readers might argue that short novel, to write comedy, to praise Tracy and pan Wagram than a long novel and tragedy. is to encourage the "escapist" So a lot of folks won't pay the type of thing at the expense or proper due to this or you. grimmer "reality." 1 disagree. Yours admiringly, 0..1( Star Wilmington. Del Co Bittersweet Tale Cynical View of Man TRACY'S T IGER by W illiam Sorg - .spgage Tl'acy's h<'lp in getting the yon. Doubleday. Ge1deh Ctry. tiger back. Whlle in Bellevue That was all right with him TRACY'S TlGER-By Wlltlam $2.50. 143 PP· Tracy find-s h~ lost love again. SaroYen~ Doubleda.y a.pd ('o., though because he'd al\.\ ays ON . 1.; i .Str. wanted to be "famous". Now, R . SAROYA.t.'l'S latest book What l\h·. Saroyan is tr.,ing to although in jail, he was practi­ can best be described only say In thh; gentle p::u·able h; that Reviewed B y cally a celebrity. ns Saroyanesque. This mny peOJlle do not love enough. 1 te What Tracy's tiger really is M CHARLES A . S H E A a nd how the black panther is seem an obvious observation, but says that all of the people in Bel· ''Mr. Peabody" had a mer­ finally captured are questions being Scu·oyanesque is something levue are people who have rniss~>d maid. "James P. .Dowd" h11d which can oe answered by which only Mt·. saroyan himself love somewh£-J'o along the line. "Harvey" and Tracy had a reading the book . can do with any degt·ee of suc- The imagtna1·y tigers at·e love It· 1iger. Well, it wasn't realJy a cess, and even llis skill in this di· self. Along toward t.. he end he be­ tiger. It really was a black .:._.::.------] pa nther. But not a real black- ;.. •·cction Js beginning to '\\ear a comes a lillie ilwol vee! in fom·th· panUter. At least, in the begin- u·ific, turn a bit threadbare around dimensional metaphysics w hi c h ning it wasn't a real black pan- the edges. and verge upon becom· do not come througil too well. Ou~r. But one day, when he was ing a satire of itself. For the rest o£ the uook. i:s ruu about to go into St. Patrick's Jt. Cathedral in New York, Thomas This busine.;;s or being Saroyan· of tn>ical chat·acters: the poli('e­ Tracy realized that everybody esq\le is a compound of extreme man who has faith in Tt·ac\ ·s could see the animal at hls genLiene..;s and w.isi..Iulnesa; .it ideas Jn ~>pile of clinical belief w side. That's when the trouble a thing 'of t)le sweetest sadness U\e conlJ·ary, a liltle psychiatrl"t started. Until that day 1he panther !)ad been Tracy's Uget• mi: Is the feeling that ~ir. sar. with him, a near _panic took to Bel revue as a P<~.vcho -and there 1 place. The police wounded tne oyon J;, alter all, only warming animal but he got away. So he finds lhat everyone has a tiger, over the same old hash. As hap- they picked up Tracy on the The tige1· was me1·e1y WOUildeQ pen:; sometimes with tcft.o,•ct·s it theory that no sane pet·son \\hen shot and escapes. The police I:; t·easonably palatable. would walk calmly down Fifth Avenue with a black panthel· at his side. At this point Sar­ ------oyan proceeds to portray the human race with its yen for notoriety on the rampage. An eldedy Viennese psychiatrist who might well mouth the l;)>rics of Saroyan's recent classic •·come On A My House", undex·­ stands Tracy ana believes him 1o be sane. He is overruled by majority vole however, and Tracy :s committed to Bell~vue. A reward of ~5000 is offered for the panther and "a hectic week !or New York" passes. The panther is "seen" in such diverse places as Harlem, Fresno, Califomia and the Soho disb·ict of London. But the epitome o.f such publicity-seeket·s as the Toledo toy manufacturer and the Chicago saloonkeeper, each of whom name a p1·oduct a{ter Tracy's tiger, oomes in the form of one Al.'t Pliley. Pliley had always wanted to be famo\Th. So he turned up wilh what everybody thought was Tl•acy's tiger and claimed the $5000 rcwar·d. The ''littir" tum­ ed out to be a mountain lion with its Iur dyed black. Pliley confessed to the hoax and in so doing implicated himself ln a few other unsolved crimes. Banner World Nashville Tenn Tulsa 'Jkla 1 Tracy's Tiger Only Mews Heart-Warming Decency TRACY'S TIGER. By William sketches, you'll know), It's not eeroyan, &>oubleday. $2.50. an Immortal knack at fantasy, and whatever you know It to be, Reviewed by It's pretty thin in his brand­ arks Saroyan' s Novel JAMES G. WHARTON new thingamajig, "Tracy's Tl­ In the modern urban-Ameri­ gPr" or, to use the author'• handy little sub-title, "A Tender can aweatshlrt l!tyle of wrltln~r Love Story." Mr. S&royan's ef­ By BLAKE KENNE DY BELL (ll vogue, prompted by Htmlng· "Tracy'• ~." by 8 em-a (Doubleday; $2.50) . fort to achieve fantasy in this 'iJ"'•• way'11 f'Arller works, requiring new little job is about a11 dert "Tracy's Tiger" is a fan t a ~ich says with complete M a stevedore's altPmpt to absence of embarrassment or pretension that "love" makes that the author In his part of the narrllllve apprar as •tupld whlslle Mozart. the world go around and that it also can make it stop. Do There is no Jaw, not even a not be afraid that Saroyan has gone "cute." This story has or at leaal aa unlearned u hi" literary one, to prevent an au­ the ineluctable charm and sincerity of a child's laughter. tough-guy charll.ctcrsl, Saroyan thor nowadays from wrlllng 11. fills the bill beller thnn 1ome book about a day laborer In 11. Thomas Tracy Is pure Saroyan, e. simple fellow who says what ot the other• In hl1 set. c-offee-Importing firm 11 e I z e d he thinks and feels, which la e. ahocklng thing to more conventional Rlnce he WM a boy with a pas­ men. After working for two weeks In a coffee firm Tracy realizes He hu, In a struggling, Jocl­ sion tor a certain black panther that he woUld make an excellent coffee taster, a high office In the ologlcal 1ort o! way, ldeala of (he always thought It wa11 a coffee trade. Such brashness rocka the personnel, particularly the human conduct, though he I• tiger) he had seen in a zoo. The oldsters who worked for at least :Ml years before reaching the eminence careful to bave aucb atuff hint· psychiatrist can doubtless tx· of tasters. Without bitterness Tracy returna to hefting coffee bap plain how it Is that, years later, arovnd. ed at only by the pl'ople In hl1 the man comes to believe that When he wu 15 Tracy foUDd bil'tJaer. It was In a zoo. Although !lcllon, lest the rtader •ee some­ the tlgPr Is somewhere Inside the actual tiger remalnl 1n the 100, 10mehow It goes, inv151ble for thing 10 cru:. as a purpo~e be­ him and how the fellow 1!! even many years to othera, alonr with Tracy. Then he meete Laura Luthy heard to emit _yowl!! o! a tigPr hind the ~~outhor'll method of nature, hut even the PliYChia­ making a living. tri>rt would be a little pushed to And Saroyan haa lma~:lnallon, ~!xplaln bow this herty, un­ too. (Il conslalll, in lhe n1aln. "choolcd coffee-bag tottr camP to hear of, commit to memory, of usin$;' the Improbable \\llh and recltr. all seven of the auch abruptness and lack o! ,·ersc!l of "Tiger! Tiger! Burn­ grace that tho reader, over hi!! Ing Bright.'' (Like some au­ third highball, may he trapped thor!!, or cour~e. he might have into thinkins:- that Saroyan, an looked it up und~>r 'T' In Bart­ elemental guy with no tlm9 or lett's.) words to waste, didn't even All' !or the appearance on a rcallz" that what he had his crowdPd Manhattan street, be­ people uy or do \\'Rs Improb-­ !llde the worthy young work­ with the hip-long black hair and ahe also hu a tiger. Are you able. In !act

EC 1 19 Sa royan, O'Hara Tracy's Tiger Strictly Saroyan. Is Love A Tiger? TRACY'S TIGER. bv Wtlllam lcomc!; visible to everv· Get Into Same S~oyqQ lllmtrau-d b\' Hf'nry KOf!t'· · 1 • It's Always Possible IF I ~ 'f>a""": Doubltdn & Co. one, and a ncar not resu ts. as Nf'w York; •2.501. _ pt>ople flt>e and police attempt to Literary Bed TracT• Ttrer HE liP'Cr in the tit!<' of Wil· <·apture the tiger, which to them, BT WD,!Jea.JW,uu TRACY'S TJOI!:R b7 \~u I I T liam Saroy;m'~ new novrl I!; of course, I!> a black panther. Now York: r>uublten. ]Jarturc, t)ut it comes rather Later on a real tiger-a black ill get ahead in the world ancl Snoyan's rather fuzzily con­ slr'angely !rom .John o·nm·a, panther, that 1&-escapea from ind love. But when Tracy gO<'s I'Pived allegory won't stand any who has his devotees a bit he· the circus, and attaches Itself to o New York he finds th11t eve I' st>an·hlng anaJysis, but his tale· fuddled. Ont> o~ the same he· Tracy, apparently recognizing he tiger <-an't do any more !or is plt>a!lant enough, with a lew, lng this re\·iewt'r. that it Is both its own cruel n!allty ·m than he can rlo for himself. flnr humorous touches. Saroy- Sm·oyml'>~ opus is about. a and Tracy's phantom rolled Into e tiger helps him finrl Jovr, ~n·s work Is like certain 1oods; hov named Tom Tracv. who one. Be takea it into St. Patrick'f ut when Traty momentarily h<' )OU either can't get enough, or Cathedral, where Its reaUty makes rays that love, the tiger is help thf'y turn your !ilomach. ''Tracy's hn~ a tiger that goes· e\'E'J"Y· complications. but Tracy atilj ss. Tig«>r" Is strictly Saroyan, so be \1 here "ith him. lwcause It is holds it as his phantom, and th~ One Sunday lllternoon "hill! guirlerl ac(.'C)rdingly. rwt real hut only in hi-< imalri· tiger-the panther-Diakea velvet acy and his tiger an! waiktnl:" Henry Koeml'r·~ illustrationl>l U61Lion. Tlwu a real tiger· lB paws for him. n FUth avenue, the Uaer aud· Jtaave real distinction. T.M.O'L. 1 How the real tiger comes to W shot in the paw, and bow the phantom tiger c<>mes to bring Tracy and his girl, Laura Luthy, together again in the neighbor­ hood of Seytang's Coffee House-­ these episodes make the core o! egister wuuntlcd in c::.c:1ping the zoo; Saroyan's whtmsical and Imagina­ ew Haven Conn it looks just like Tom's tiger tive Yam, slighter than some pre­ and when it runs up to him he vious conceptions of })is, but in• is not :1t all fr·ightcncd. Appar·· fused as always with hi$ sym­ cntly Tom's imnginary ti~et· is pathetic feeling for the under­ dog~ crippled panther, aa the his instinct fm· Juw. for ther·e case may be. i~ ,1 Lmu·a Luthy and choco­ The tiger begtns by being bold­ httes ;mel corrc.•c and a ps)'· ness, and ends by being Jove-but What kind ot a book should you give John or Mary? They chiatr·ist mixecl lll> in the fablt>. perhaps Jove too Is only another belong to a book club and buy most of the best sellers almost be­ O'Har·a t>mploys the age old name tor boldness. Saroyan at tore the Ink is dry on the pages. What next? Well, reading tastes device of a g1·oup or stl·angely least must say so, If he is to escape the charge of inconsistency. range over a wide field and It may be that In the miscellaneous assorted people storm-hound in n <'omfortahlc old Penni>yl· Or perhaps he would only say list below is one or ll10l'e books that wiJI appeal to someone )'OU ,·.mia inn which has just been with Emerson that a foolish con­ know, someone who would prefer o t ecktie or a scarf. sistency ia the hobgoblin or little opened by ;m a ltruistlc pro­ minds. TRACY'S TIGER by William J>I'ietor·. There are a <'Ouple of Jt. R. Saroyan

Some people wear invisible armor as protection JAN 3 1 9~7 against weakness imagi:ted or real. Others seek ar­ tificial aplendor in brae· Traey's Tiger gadocio. to bolater up Tracy's Tiger , by William Saro- 1 selt ·confidence. As for 't;an...J.New York: Dotltlll!'!tay & btl WUliAm Saroyan ompany. l43 pp. $2.50.) Doubled4v & Co. Thomas Tracy, he had New Y01'k. ~.50 walked with a tiger ever , By Elisabdh ~1 c Laugh lin since he waa a small boy Saroyan, it seems, is like and had 1eer. a black panther in a museum that he took tor R . tiger. It was good company, he could • pickles; either you like him or count ou Ius judgment and Tracy never bothered you don't like him, but il you that others never sa"' hia tiger at all. happen to be one ot those who The tiaer helped him decide who were his friends like him, you shouldn't miss In his job in the Tasting Department of Otto Say­ "Tracy's Tiger." fangs, Produce. The !irst time he saw Laura Luthy, I l "That is the story of Thomas Tracy knew she was the one tor him fr()m the way Tracy, Laura Luthy, and the his tiger an:l Laura's hit it off together. Things were tiger, which is lo\'e.'' So runs • going fin'! until Tracy's impulsive behavior with Saroyan's last sentence. and it Laura's mother separated them tor a number of sums up "Tracy's Tiger"-a love years. And the:1, back in New York, Tracy suddenly l story that becomes a parable on cliJcovered that other people were seeing his tiger, the meaning and importance ol and actina mighty panicky over the fact. love in a life. The dll\lppearance of the tlaer brou&bt the police Thomas Tracy meets Laura into action. sent Tracy to Bellevue, with other owners I Luthy (that is, he sees her com­ ot lost tlgfrs, spurred a clever man to turn tbe ing down Warren Street, which is clock back i!l a remarkable interlude of metropolitan 1 the same as meeting her to him); calm and finally reunited Tracy and Laura, and the tiger, again in his original invisible form. ht; falls~ love with her on sight, Wlns her 1n a .few days and fewer The tl(er. in Mr. Saroyan's somew~at contused, pages, then loses her almost im­ yet diverti·.g opus. Is Love, eapable of reeoaruzlnJ mediately. The next time they its kind wten encountered. The Saroyan humor is meet is at Bellevue, a hospital for evident in these pages, but our personal preference the insane, and the last time they is !or the tales amona his kith and kin In the flavor· meet is when they walk together some California setting of "Rock Wagram" and "My down Warren Street once more in Name Is Aram." -MHB. the bright .sunshine o( a Sunday noon, six years after the .first time.. When that event happens nothing else happens in all ot New York City for a whole hour. _There is a wonderful psychia­ tnst in this story, a phychiatrist Inquirer who hates psychiatry and loves people. and says so. He also says, Phi la Pa "everybody at Bellevue is some­ body who lost love somewhere along the line. The ones that love means the most to get sick. Some of them die." The tlaer, well there are two

HE new., Sa an tigers. one imaginary, the other T Tiger, is a 'Stliii bookL T.,..aq(s New York and real, but only Saroyan can tell really not much morevOJ::e · It is nation. as you you about the tiger. tended short sto an ex­ =-= ~o~r­ Polic:e Captain H .unaglne. This is a much better book fantasy. It paysrytr~t::t.toltJis a pretty understanding UZU!ga has than ''Rock Wagram." This Is the The book is abo ove. the tiae . . He knows that old Saroyan again, writing one in.. -. tig ut a tiger an :-~ .. r 1S actuaU 1 --J er. This . • ~-g- everythin Y ove. And of his best stories and saying Thomas Tra tiger belongs to Give co!_turns out all right. all the big things he has been Lu~y. One ;{ th'l'ho~ loves Laura . --.royan an "A" t saying in so many different ways ay e tiger gets loose in good lntentions A or now for so long. more simply, for having the . pplaud him more poignantly, more tenderly, Say that th proper feeling and, yes, even more carefully here of the ere .are Bash~ than ever before. ac:hieved in i:'b~ magic "Tracy's Tiger'' is a sad, sen­ Years ago now t-some timental story; it. is a sweet, sim­ charming h --.and of the old ply beautiful story, and it's a you wish thurnor. Add that lot o! fun besides. You can read ere were Co "Tracy's Tiger" more tllan ouce, . nclude that 't . . more. and you should: thal is, o! course, task to -~ •- I 1S !I difficult t :N ...... e an unagin if you like Saroyan. But even if "'6er worth a novel, d ary you don't. like hlm. maybe this .Alas, T.,..ru:.,•s T· ~ -: is the time to give him another lips ti ""- L on th" ager 1S like a chance, an extra one, so to speak. stands e coat lapel It •or~ something . · As Laura Luthy says, "One extra pretty. But it is always nice. I have always be­ doesn~c:e ~ .lieved in that. One extra for ev­ come otf. (Doubl-'-- qwte $2.50.) ...... , . 143 pp. erybody." M onTerey, \..41. Herald Book ' eview Digest (Cir. 8,546)

SAROYAN.a.. W ILL IAM. Tracy'" tiger; draw­ Ings bY H enry Koerner. lt3p $2.50 Doubleday 51-13965 "A ~hort fable about love. with a whlm~lcal and lneon~lsumt tiger Cor a hero and two tn­ lne Literary Guidepost J:"enuou~ >·oung P<'<>l•le, Thoma" Tracy and lAura Luthy, tor lllfl lovers," ~ew Yorker

~ Booklist 48:126 D 1 '51 Sa~Qyan and Nash Reviewed by Chad Wal~ the manneriMms ot an adult ~>prlte who 111 anxlouR to provo he can still of syrobolic exposition. In other shake a !Pg, Nevt>r thelc111J, 'Tracy'11 'rlger • words, this man Saroyan Is up with ('Ongenlal pen and In~. 'kt>l<·he~< by Henry Koerner. I>< worth the time It takes." James to his old specialty ot delving Kelly into human action, g iv ~ it a N Y Tlmea p5 N 11 '51 320w • new ldnd of meaning. New Yorker 27;161 N 10 '51 30w ...W.'W$ TJG8Il; ~ \\'illlum "It h all suppo~cd to be very delightful. It isn't every young man who :iUD~ t DIIIUIIIMa~: S:.JOl mO\'lng, and of courtJtiY. a:. Tom imagined he did and that was as untl tt~e.r- walk down ro:iltl A\'u., Is t'elll TJ1e 'C's also L:wt:a! Luthy, to dl~t'O\'er the!Oe qualities tlowerln!f In the good a& the reel thing. It gave and love si~ ch~· ate)!> coffct'­ ~ugary atmo~phf're or ~lr. l-inroyan s Cables. tastlng. and Dfl l'!liftg." h) Dm"X>IhY Salis­ bur~· Dav1s; a n d "Death of a SaJ,.s­ at the same time. Millions of man " bv Arthu:· ;:..Iille•. ''Grant words are strung together by the 't.a1id," by Lucile Finlay, is young inspired psychologists, by cw Bnntam gianl. old bearded psychologists and by people who just think they know how to explain "love." Of course, many ot them use less romantic terms to describe love. Now, Saroyan, in a simple story ot a boy and girl, has explained this business much more clearly than the social scientists. It is a story that puts a new light on people. TRACY'S TI- Healdsburg, Cal. Vallejo, Cal. Tribune n mes Herald (Cir. 1,914} (Cir. D. 22,318 - S. 22,194. BEE JAN 2 4 1952 Sacremento Calif

I acy's Tiger" EB Is Newest Book The .Olrl Saroyan I 1 ~fag_J c Is Missi n (J' ~A~ .;: :~E:~;::m TIGER by a- :saroyan. (Doubleday .t Co. c:~!!t-\CY'S ~VI IIiam 1. '-XW.Il~~hleday & O>mpan . Jacket~~: of ~Y'a.7=~~~=:~:: Tiger by William plain "love".:=~~ Of coarse,~~~ many $2.:1(1) Inr.,ar!\~ity , l\'Y; S2.50. >· Soroyan g'lVes no hint of the real of them uae less romantic •rms One bright Sunday morning . Saroyan s fm;t hook in a con· purpose or idea of the story. It 0 love. Now, Saroyan, Isaderable length of time Is not ~ d~ribe a most unusual thing occuncd merely speaka of a "most u ·~ a sample story of a boy an~ m~ch _longer than a short sto thing'' that occurred in New"'Yri! garl, has explained this businellil In the city or ~cw York-noth· It IS htg-hly readable thou~h Ja::k: lng happened. For four New m~ the quality o! My Naml' 1 The novel _itself is than the so· ~ity. ~e ~:f~i~:t:!ts~learly York hours there were no epi· Aram and .ThP Human Comed~: . most unusual thmg"l For it It is a story that uta a new It rlPalll W1th the advt>nturc>!l . f of any a younl.!. man, Thoma!! T~ar~· ~ha one. of those short stories light on people. Tr~cy ' s Tige a.nrl a mixup ·over lin lmllgimtl'}: t ptovokes a great deal of (Doubleday and Co a 2 r h~l'r d or compl e tr· uil1ty.

0

Saroyan, W ill iam. Tracy's Tiger. Odlt"tme of Tom T d · . helped him mak rae>: an hiS tiger who about his life. e all Important decisions Record Chelsea ll:.sa • t?

Review• In Brief J I TRACY'S T IGER lorce; the newspapers were in an uproar: and the only psy­ Saroyan's By William Saroyan chiatrist who believed Tracy to One bright Sunday morning. be st1ne was Dr. Pingitzer, a most unusual thing oa:urr<'d "hose O\\'ll rationality was Fantasy Not l'l the city of New York - questioned by his co11eagues. Fortunately Police Captain nothing haPP<'ned! For one Huzinga also sided with Tracy, at Its Best whole New York hour there not only to salvage the repu­ • B;\· ::\IARY :\fiTCBELL were no episodes of any sort, tation of the force, but also to no drunks, not evcn a disturl\­ f,I'OVe to himself that "good TRACY'S TIGER, by W111iam ance of the pcacc. things that have been lost can Sm·o'1a1~ (Doubleday, $2.50). Actually, this strange phe­ be found again." That's why THIS short !abl<' is a new nomenon had its real ~in­ he staged a l\niquc experiment twist on the boy meets girl nings much earlier, when onc bright Sunday morning theme. Boy wins girl in the Tracy, then 21, and his tiger, which may have been explained final scene because a tiger, had respectively fallcn in love New York's sixty minutes of l'tarved. sick, weak and with a girl in a yellow knit complete tranquility. wounded climbs on top o! a dress named Laura, and Laura's ''Tracy's Tiger" is both mov­ pile o! coffee sacks to look lady tiger. But then Tracy went ing and absorbing. The treat­ things over. &\\-ay to California. Back in ml nt or ordinary people in cx­ It's just as pixillated as that! New York nine y"ars later, he t r~ordi nary situations is genu­ This well-known Armenian wu, walking down Fifth Ave­ inely touching, and Tracy, the playright and novelist tri~s to nue toward St. Patrick's when hero will head straight to the prove that "the ones love suddenly he noti('('(l that somc­ !·cart of l'Very reader. With means most t-:>, get sick. A tl"olug was very dUTt>r<'nt - th<' a feeling similar to "The Hu­ lot of them even die." To do tigf'r on whose llNld he was nlan Comedy", this gl'ntly hu­ this. he makes Thomas Tracv's resting his hand was real. morous story has the added imaginary t1ger symbolize lo~e. The ensuing pandt>monium srice of a highly ingenious When Tracy loses his girl and involved the city's entire pollee plot. his hfe seems out of joint. the -:- ··- -=-=------tiger h<'comes real and runs away. This happens in front ol. St. Patrick's cathedral in New York. several police cars and a battery 0! news photogra· The Pilot phers. Boston llass Book Uulletin Tom sickens. has to be psy­ en· c g Libra Y choanalyzed and the world calls his tiger a black panther rscaped from a zoo. Panic TRACY'S TIGER. sweeps the city. Loose, raven· Wllliam Saroyan. M~R - - 19S2. ous panthers pop up all over Doubeday. the alerted country. A police Thomas Tracy's tiger, real or captain named Huzinga doesn't invisible, probably repreaentll believe Tracy is mad. He has mutual love of fellowmen, the SAROYAN, W ILLIAM. Tracy's tiger. Saroyan's faith in the world's absence of which causea emo­ goodness, declares the boy does tional disturbances on every 1951. ha,·e a tiger, and stages a leVel of buman relation& Whim· A shon fable, in Saroyan's figurative and poetic unique experiment to bring it _, and quiet bumor with a scyle, about Thomas Tracy, his tiger, and his love for Laura Luthy, ~rhaps oot as hilarious or as alarming back alive. wbtle point that eetll the as. others of his boob, but still within the Saroyan Mad as a hatter, the book readeW on a pleasant train or veto. proves little beyond the !act thought not neceaaarilY in it~ author is still writing and agreement with the author. his wells of fantasy are not rlrymg up. There are enough o! V1enna-bom Henry Koer· J\rr·~ first-rate drawings to sp1ce up its mediocrity. J,llen's 'l'ribune PRESS a.JPPING BUREAU Salt Lake Utah BtiAbl&aMdlBBB J'()aTLAND r. R IG Seattle San ~.,£ ...... cisco - Los Angeles , Once More It's Spokane Chronicle Spc:>kane, W .~ . (Qr. 7U57) Saroyan at AR 6- 1 52 . His Old Game Tracy's Tlrer, by William S~t&oubleda7 & Co., IDe., antasy fl ~lusive / G ty, N. Y. •z.so. By Jack Gooclmaa pot, why not Saroyan?" Thinl Is, we expected rather more in SaroJa'n' s Novel Here we have one of Bill Wllllam Saroyan's most recent Saroyan's fables, a gentle albeit than tenuous, maudlin long­ hook, "Tra~ Tiger"

TRACY'S TICER by William Saroycrn Another versiOn Of •'Harvey." An invisible black panther