24 pp. Spine discolored, stain at top of spine affecting wraps only, repriced with stamp, price sticker shadow, one inch crease extending through all pages. No marks in text. There is a five-page preface by the author. ''Poverty is something I have been privileged to know and respect. It is something I have always wanted to avoid, of course; and being a writer, it is something I have avoided. To be truly alive, in spite of poverty, is to defeat poverty. To be able to write is to be truly alive.'' ''Last year Mr. Saroyan's first play, My Heart's in the Highlands, was successfully produced on Broadway, and this season his The Time of Your Life has won the acclaim of all professional critics.";"