Before I Forget: A Memoir

Aram Saroyan, minimalist poet, author, and son of William Saroyan, reflects on a life shaped by art, fame, and fractured family with a behind-the-scenes view of American cultural life from the 1950s onward, including rare photos and stories of mingling with creative luminaries from Richard Avedon to Marilyn Monroe.

In Before I Forget: A Memoir, Aram Saroyan, traces the highlights of his creative life in Manhattan, Los Angeles, London, and Bolinas. At fourteen he was an after-school apprentice in Richard Avedon's New York studio, taking part in the iconic photographer's fashion and portrait sessions that included Marilyn Monroe. What influences sanctioned his controversial poem "lighght"? An experience after school during high school proves to be an enduring touchstone of his vocation. The son of the beloved author William Saroyan and step-son of Walter Matthau, Saroyan probes the fallout of his father and mother's broken marriage and lessons gleaned in their wake, with memories of his eight-year-old self cast out on the comic sea of Beverly Hills in the fifties. The memoir is capped by two never-before-published minimalist novellas, offering a fictionalized examination of Saroyan's later years. Also included are assorted vintage photos from the author's personal archives.