Damon Runyon

Daniel R. Schwarz (Cornell University)

Ed. by Nick Selby, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 4 Oct 1884
Died 10 Dec 1946
Activity 1904-1946

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Journalist
Story-writer

Resources

Runyon's Works

Save to Bookshelf

When I was ten years old, I remember hearing hilarious laughter from my father while he was reading downstairs in the living room. When I went down to ask him what he was reading, he answered “Damon Runyon”. It was a scene that occurred every few years when he would take all of Damon Runyon's books out of the library. My father rarely laughed out loud and at ninety is no more a person noted for fits of hilarity than he was fifty years ago. When I reread Runyon's stories a generation later, my young sons heard me laughing out loud too.

Now my sons are adults and I await grandchildren with whom to share my enthusiasm. But today I still read Damon Runyon (1880-1946) with the same response, a link to my father and a link to the New York of the Depression my father knew and grew up in, a

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3590 words

Citation: Schwarz, Daniel R.. "Damon Runyon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3887, accessed 26 November 2024.]