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Saroyans Lonely Fruitcakes, and other Goofs: Strategies of Resistance to the Culture of Abundance Mauricio D.

Aguilera Linde University of Granada, Spain aguilera@ugr.es


Unlike Sherwood Anderson s grotes!ues and "arson Mc"ullers s freaks, conde#ned to live ostraci$ed, despite their failing atte#pts to %elong and co##unicate, Saroyan s fruitcakes pursue a%surd drea#s, defy rules and conventions, and feel proud of their odd identity in a ho#ogenising, difference&levelling world. 'n ()orsey Gorsey and the *rog+ ,-./01, an apparently innocent, children s tale, the writer condenses, in a nutshell, his criti!ue of the do#inant culture of a%undance ,Sus#an -.023 4arnard -..51. 6hrough a detailed revision of his narrative, #ostly the stories pu%lished during the Great Depression, ' ai# to show that Saroyan s short fiction, peopled %y eccentric fools and diehard drea#ers, can %e read as an atte#pt to contradict, su%vert, or resist the values and institutions of #ass consu#ption society7 the #yth of success and personality, and the u%i!uitous influence of #ovies and ads. Saroyan s short stories un#ask the average A#erican citi$en s confor#ist aspirations through a (reverse+ discourse or counter&discourse ,*oucault -.801 which de%unks the legiti#acy of the hege#onic ideology.

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