The Human Comedy By Saroyan?

Question

I've read the book and was wondering why the title is what it is, why do they call it a "comedy"? The book is very light and sad at some points but I can't find any humor in it

Answer 1

The title is not a direct reference to Dante, but to Balzac, who was regarded as one of the greatest novelists of the 19th century (even for the generation after Saroyan's) and who wrote a monumental classic: The Human Comedy, or L' Comedie Humaine. Balzac's intention was to contrast the human with the divine, and his title was a direct reference to Dante's work.
About the term comedy. Both Saroyan and Balzac were using the term ironically, stressing the fact that, more than a comedy, can be seen as a tragedy.
However, that was not the case for Dante. During the early Renaissance, the term comedy still had the classical meaning the Greeks had given it, and was not what it means today.
The Greek principles for poetry and theater were laid down by Aristotle in his book Poetics. Drama was given to epic, grandiose stories and themes; comedy to the more humble everyday concerns of man's life on earth. So what defined drama and comedy for the Greeks was its thematic content, and had nothing to do with humor. That is a more modern concept, which began toward the end of the 18th century.

Answer 2

Saroyan, being the happily egotistical fella he was, titled his book as a contrast to Dante's classic early Renaissance poetic journey through the afterlife, "The Divine Comedy" (note that "comedy" in both instances isn't so much about humor, but that it isn't about tragedy--an older classical definition)--In Saroyan's instance, it's a sweeping down-to -earth story about the experience of living in one particular earthly place and time. The fact that he also names his young protagonist Homer may or not be a nod to the ancient poet, since so much of the story is. in some ways, Homer's odyssey through experiences.