BAGHDAD AND SAMARRA: JOHN O’HARA NOVEL TITLE “APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA”

October 11, 2008 at 7:07 pm | Posted in Art, Books, Literary, USA | Leave a comment

Appointment in Samarra

Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by

Explanation of the novel’s title

The title is a reference to W. Somerset Maugham‘s retelling of an old story, which appears as an epigraph for the novel: A merchant in Baghdad sends his servant to the marketplace for provisions. Shortly, the servant comes home white and trembling and tells him that in the marketplace he was jostled by a woman, whom he recognized as Death, and she made a threatening gesture. Borrowing the merchant’s horse, he flees at top speed to Samarra, a distance of about 75 miles (125 km), where he believes Death will not find him. The merchant then goes to the marketplace and finds Death, and asks why she made the threatening gesture. She replies, “That was not a threatening gesture, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

In his foreword to the 1952 reprint, O’Hara says that the working title for the novel was The Infernal Grove. He got the idea for the title Appointment in Samarra when Dorothy Parker showed him the story in Maugham’s play, Sheppey. He says “Dorothy didn’t like the title, [publisher] Alfred Harcourt didn’t like the title, his editors didn’t like it, nobody liked it but me.”

O’Hara assumes that readers will understand the social distinctions between a Cadillac, a LaSalle, a Buick, and a “Chevvy” (which O’Hara spelled with two V’s). But beyond cars, the novel is full of other brand names, which O’Hara obviously expects to convey subtle social meanings to the reader.

Author John O’Hara

Dates: (January 31, 1905–April 11, 1970)