Saroyan’s short stories have received more critical acclaim than his plays or novels for their overall consistency and vision of life in America. Saroyan infused his short fiction with strong autobiographical elements that are manifest in themes, settings, and characters. Depression-era readers were particularly responsive to Saroyan’s themes of isolation and hardship. His sense of nationalism and belonging also resonated with readers looking for something to lift their spirits and renew confidence in their shaken country. Saroyan’s popularity declined with the onset of World War II, and critics believe this is because his optimistic, sentimental fiction no longer held the interest of cynical readers enduring the second world war in their generation. Still, Saroyan’s contributions to the genre of the short story are considered important and enduring. He has been compared to such short story masters as O. Henry for making the short story accessible to a wide audience and Ernest Hemingway for stylistic strength. In the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Greg Keeler remarks that ‘‘the vitality of his early short fiction, with its passion and seemingly unful- filled promise, continues to ensure his importance as an American writer.’’ In William Saroyan, Howard R. Floan accounts for Saroyan’s success by observing that

he learned to get into his story immediately; to fit character, setting, and mood to the action; to express with colloquial vigor what his people were capable of saying, and to imply much about what they were able to feel.

‘‘Resurrection of a Life’’ appears in Saroyan’s second collection of short stories, Inhale & Exhale (1936). In the wake of the critical and popular success of his first collection, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), this second volume was somewhat disappointing to critics. Inhale & Exhale contains stories about childhood, stories about young men, and stories about travel. Critics find that the stories about childhood best reflect the author’s strengths and weaknesses. ‘‘The World and the Theater,’’ a story very similar to ‘‘Resurrection of a Life,’’ is criticized for portraying a young newspaper boy with too much emotion and sophistication, making the story less than believable. Another weakness critics cite in this collection is Saroyan’s move away from independence and realism toward nostalgia and sentimentality.

At the same time, critics note that Inhale & Exhale demonstrates many of Saroyan’s strengths as a short-story writer. Reviewers are especially taken with the stories told from a first-person perspective, such as ‘‘Resurrection of a Life.’’ These stories strike critics as being strong narratives, full of emotions that take readers into the minds and experiences of their narrators. ‘‘Resurrection of a Life’’ also reflects the autobiographical tendencies in Saroyan’s work to which depression-era readers were so responsive. In this case, Saroyan introduces the theme of death, a strong sense of belonging, the search for stability, and the necessity of perceiving hardship in as positive a light as possible. ‘‘Resurrection of a Life’’ reflects Saroyan’s appreciation of America and its possibilities, weaknesses and all. Critics also comment that the themes and narrative style that would characterize his later work are solidified in this collection. Inhale & Exhale provides a glimpse into the development of one of the era’s strongest fiction writers.