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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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 19 March 2024.]

3887 Damon Runyon 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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