Dos Passos, John

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'''John Rodrigo Dos Passos''' (January 14, 1896 — September 28, 1970) was an important [[United States|American]] [[novelist]] and artist.  
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[[Image:John dos Passos.jpg|thumb|200px|John Dos Passos]]
 
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'''John Rodrigo Dos Passos''' (January 14, 1896 — September 28, 1970) was an important twentieth-century [[United States|American]] [[novelist]] and artist. He was both a social and artistic revolutionary, supporting [[socialism|socialist]] causes while helping to redefine narrative fictional techniques. However, after a trip to the [[Soviet Union]] he began to distance himself from the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] practices he witnessed there.  
<table align=right><tr><td>[[Image:Jpassosbook.jpg]]</td></tr></table>
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One of the first American writers to use the stream of consciousness technique, his blending of historical artifacts with fictional characters helped to create a greater sense of [[versimilitude]] and increased the sense of the novel's historical importance. This technique has been often copied and is a staple of modern narrative.
  
 
==Early life==
 
==Early life==
Dos Passos was born in [[Chicago]], where his father was a wealthy lawyer of [[Madeira]]n [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] descent who could afford to give him the best education. In 1907, he was sent to study at [[Choate Rosemary Hall|The Choate School]] in Wallingford, Connecticut, then went with a private tutor on a six-month tour of [[France]], [[England]], [[Italy]], [[Greece]], and the [[Middle East]] to study the masters of classic [[art]], [[architecture]], and [[literature]].
+
Dos Passos was born in [[Chicago]], where his father was a wealthy lawyer of Madeiran [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] descent who could afford to give him the best education. In 1907, he was sent to study at The Choate School in Wallingford, [[Connecticut]], then went with a private tutor on a six-month tour of [[France]], [[England]], [[Italy]], [[Greece]], and the [[Middle East]] to study the masters of classic [[art]], [[architecture]], and [[literature]].
  
In 1913 he attended [[Harvard University]]. Following his graduation in 1916 he traveled to [[Spain]] to study art and architecture. With [[World War I]] raging in [[Europe]] and America not yet participating, Dos Passos volunteered in July 1917 for the S.S.U. 60 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, along with friends [[E. E. Cummings]] and [[Robert Hillyer]]. He worked as a driver in [[Paris]], France, and in north-central Italy.
+
In 1913, he attended [[Harvard University]]. Following his graduation in 1916, he traveled to [[Spain]] to study art and architecture. With [[World War I]] raging in [[Europe]] and America not yet participating, Dos Passos volunteered in July 1917 for the S.S.U. 60 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, along with friends [[E. E. Cummings]] and [[Robert Hillyer]]. He worked as a driver in [[Paris]], France, and in north-central Italy.
  
By the late summer of 1918, he had completed a draft of his first novel. At the same time, he had to report for duty with the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[Medical Corps (United States Army)|Medical Corps]] at Camp Crane in Pennsylvania. At war's end, he was stationed in Paris, where the U.S. Army Overseas Education Commission allowed him to study anthropology at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. One of Dos Passos' characters in the ''U.S.A.'' trilogy goes through virtually the same military career and stays in Paris after the war.
+
By the late-summer of 1918, he had completed a draft of his first novel. At the same time, he had to report for duty with the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[Medical Corps (United States Army)|Medical Corps]] at Camp Crane in [[Pennsylvania]]. At war's end, he was stationed in Paris, where the U.S. Army Overseas Education Commission allowed him to study [[anthropology]] at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. One of Dos Passos' characters in the ''U.S.A.'' trilogy goes through virtually the same military career and stays in Paris after the war.
  
 
==Literary career==
 
==Literary career==
Considered one of the [[Lost Generation]] writers, Dos Passos' first novel was published in 1920. Titled ''One Man's Initiation: 1917'' it was followed by an antiwar story, ''Three Soldiers'', which brought him considerable recognition. His 1925 novel about life in [[New York City]], titled  
+
Considered one of the [[Lost Generation]] writers, Dos Passos' first novel was published in 1920. Titled, ''One Man's Initiation: 1917'', it was followed by an antiwar story, ''Three Soldiers'', which brought him considerable recognition. His 1925 novel about life in [[New York City]], titled ''Manhattan Transfer'', was a commercial success and introduced experimental [[Stream of consciousness writing|stream-of-consciousness]] techniques into Dos Passos' method.
''Manhattan Transfer'', was a commercial success and introduced experimental [[Stream of consciousness writing|stream-of-consciousness]] techniques into Dos Passos' method.
 
  
A social revolutionary, Dos Passos came to see the United States as two nations, one rich and one poor. He wrote admiringly about the [[Wobblies]] and the injustice in the criminal convictions of [[Sacco and Vanzetti]] and joined with other notable personalities in the United States and Europe in a failed campaign to overturn their [[Capital punishment|death sentences]]. In 1928, Dos Passos spent several months in [[Soviet Union]] studying their [[Socialism|socialist]] system. He returned to Spain with [[Ernest Hemingway|Hemingway]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]], but his views on the [[Communism|communist]] movement had already begun to change. Dos Passos broke with Hemingway and [[Herbert Matthews]] over their cavalier attitude towards the war and their willingness to submit their names to [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] [[propaganda]] efforts.  
+
A social revolutionary, Dos Passos came to see the United States as two nations, one rich and one poor. He wrote admiringly about the [[Wobblies]] and the injustice in the criminal convictions of [[Sacco and Vanzetti]] and joined with other notable personalities in the United States and Europe in a failed campaign to overturn their [[Capital punishment|death sentences]]. In 1928, Dos Passos spent several months in [[Soviet Union]] studying their [[Socialism|socialist]] system. He returned to [[Spain]] with [[Ernest Hemingway|Hemingway]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]], but his views on the [[Communism|communist]] movement had already begun to change. Dos Passos broke with Hemingway and [[Herbert Matthews]] over their cavalier attitude towards the war and their willingness to submit their names to [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] [[propaganda]] efforts.  
  
Over his long and successful career, Dos Passos wrote forty-two novels, as well as poems, essays, and plays, and created more than 400 pieces of art.
+
Over his long and successful career, Dos Passos wrote 42 novels, as well as poems, essays, and plays, and created more than 400 pieces of art.
  
His major work is the ''U.S.A.''  trilogy, comprising ''The 42nd Parallel'' (1930), ''1919'' (1932), and ''The Big Money'' (1936). Dos Passos used experimental techniques in these novels, incorporating newspaper clippings, autobiography, biography and fictional [[Realism (arts)|realism]] to paint a vast landscape of American culture during the first decades of the twentieth century. Dos Passos' political and social reflections in the novel are deeply pessimistic about the political and economic direction of the United States, and few of the characters manage to hold onto their ideals through the First World War.
+
His major work is the ''U.S.A.''  trilogy, comprising ''The 42nd Parallel'' (1930), ''1919'' (1932), and ''The Big Money'' (1936). Dos Passos used experimental techniques in these novels, incorporating newspaper clippings, autobiography, biography, and fictional [[Realism (arts)|realism]] to paint a vast landscape of American culture during the first decades of the twentieth century. Dos Passos' political and social reflections in the novel are deeply pessimistic about the political and economic direction of the United States, and few of the characters manage to hold onto their ideals through the [[World War I|First World War]].
  
As Dos Passos grew older, he turned to the [[Right-wing politics|right]] politically. In the mid-1930s he wrote a series of scathing articles about communist political theory. In ''The Big Money'' he created an idealistic Communist gradually worn down and destroyed by [[groupthink]] in the party. At a time when socialism was gaining popularity in Europe as a response to [[Fascism]], Dos Passos' writings resulted in a sharp decline in international sales of his books. Nevertheless, recognition for his significant contribution in the literary field would come thirty years later in Europe when, in 1967, he was invited to [[Rome]] to accept the prestigious [[Feltrinelli Prize]] for international distinction in literature. Although Dos Passos [[Partisan (politics)|partisan]]s have long contended that his later work was ignored because of his changing politics, there is a consensus among critics that the quality of his novels drastically declined following the triumph reached with ''USA''.
+
As Dos Passos grew older, he turned to the [[Right-wing politics|right]] politically. In the mid-1930s, he wrote a series of scathing articles about communist political theory. In ''The Big Money'' he created an [[idealism|idealistic]] Communist gradually worn down and destroyed by [[groupthink]] in the party. At a time when socialism was gaining popularity in Europe as a response to [[Fascism]], Dos Passos' writings resulted in a sharp decline in international sales of his books. Nevertheless, recognition for his significant contribution in the literary field would come 30 years later in Europe when, in 1967, he was invited to [[Rome]] to accept the prestigious [[Feltrinelli Prize]] for international distinction in literature. Although Dos Passos [[Partisan (politics)|partisan]]s have long contended that his later work was ignored because of his changing politics, there is a consensus among critics that the quality of his novels drastically declined following the triumph reached with ''USA''.
  
Between 1942 and 1945, Dos Passos worked as a journalist covering [[World War II]]. In 1947, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, but tragedy struck when an automobile accident killed his wife of 18 years, Katharine Smith, and cost him the sight in one eye. He eventually remarried to Elizabeth Holdridge (1909-1998), and he continued to write until his death in [[Baltimore]] in 1970. He is interred in Yeocomico Churchyard Cemetery in Cople Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia, not far from where he had made his home.
+
Between 1942 and 1945, Dos Passos worked as a journalist covering [[World War II]]. In 1947, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, but tragedy struck when an automobile accident killed his wife of 18 years, Katharine Smith, and cost him the sight in one eye. He eventually remarried to Elizabeth Holdridge (1909-1998), and he continued to write until his death in [[Baltimore]] in 1970. He is interred in Yeocomico Churchyard Cemetery in Cople Parish, Westmoreland County, [[Virginia]], not far from where he had made his home.
  
 
==Influence==
 
==Influence==
Dos Passos' pioneering works of [[nonlinear (arts)|nonlinear]] fiction were a major influence in the field. In particular [[Alfred Döblin]]'s "[[Berlin Alexanderplatz]]" and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s [[The Roads to Freedom|The Roads To Freedom]] trilogy show the influence of his methods. In an often cited 1936 essay, Sartre referred to Dos Passos as "the greatest writer of our time." Perhaps the best-known work partaking of the cut-up technique found in ''U.S.A.'' is [[science fiction]] writer [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]]'s [[Hugo Award]]-winning [[1968]] "non-novel" ''[[Stand on Zanzibar]]'', in which Brunner makes use of fictitious newspaper clippings, television announcements, and other "samples" taken from the news and entertainment media of the year 2010.
+
Dos Passos' pioneering works of [[nonlinear (arts)|nonlinear]] fiction were a major influence in the field. In particular, [[Alfred Döblin]]'s ''Berlin Alexanderplatz'' and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]'s ''The Roads To Freedom'' trilogy show the influence of his methods. In an often cited 1936 essay, Sartre referred to Dos Passos as "the greatest writer of our time." Perhaps the best-known work partaking of the cut-up technique found in ''U.S.A.'' is [[science fiction]] writer [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]]'s [[Hugo Award]]-winning 1968 "non-novel" ''Stand on Zanzibar'', in which Brunner makes use of fictitious newspaper clippings, television announcements, and other "samples" taken from the news and entertainment media of the year 2010.
  
 
==Artistic career==
 
==Artistic career==
Before becoming a leading novelist of his day, John Dos Passos sketched and painted. During the summer of 1922, he studied at [[Hamilton Easter Field]]'s art colony in [[Ogunquit, Maine]]. Many of his books published during the ensuing ten years used jackets and illustrations that Dos Passos created. Influenced by various movements, he merged elements of [[Impressionism]], [[Expressionism]], and [[Cubism]] to create his own unique style. And his work evolved to more than just a minor hobby with his first exhibition at New York's [[National Arts Club]] in 1922 and the following year at [[Gertrude Whitney]]'s Studio Club in New York City.  
+
Before becoming a leading novelist of his day, John Dos Passos sketched and painted. During the summer of 1922, he studied at Hamilton Easter Field's art colony in Ogunquit, [[Maine]]. Many of his books published during the ensuing 10 years used jackets and illustrations that Dos Passos created. Influenced by various movements, he merged elements of [[Impressionism]], [[Expressionism]], and [[Cubism]] to create his own unique style. His work evolved to more than just a minor hobby with his first exhibition at [[New York]]'s [[National Arts Club]] in 1922 and the following year at [[Gertrude Whitney]]'s Studio Club in New York City.  
  
While Dos Passos never gained recognition as a great artist, he continued to paint throughout his lifetime and his body of work was well respected. His art most often reflected his travels in [[Spain]], [[Mexico]], [[North Africa]], plus the streets and cafés of the [[Montparnasse]] Quarter of Paris that he had frequented with good friends [[Fernand Leger]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[Blaise Cendrars]], and others. Between 1925 and 1927, Dos Passos wrote plays as well as created posters and set designs for the New Playwrights Theatre in New York City. In his later years, his efforts turned to painting scenes around his residences in [[Maine]] and [[Virginia]].
+
While Dos Passos never gained recognition as a great artist, he continued to paint throughout his lifetime and his body of work was well respected. His art most often reflected his travels in [[Spain]], [[Mexico]], [[North Africa]], plus the streets and cafés of the [[Montparnasse]] Quarter of Paris that he had frequented with good friends [[Fernand Leger]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[Blaise Cendrars]], and others. Between 1925 and 1927, Dos Passos wrote plays as well as created posters and set designs for the New Playwrights Theatre in New York City. In his later years, his efforts turned to painting scenes around his residences in Maine and [[Virginia]].
  
 
In early 2001, an exhibition titled ''The Art of John Dos Passos'' opened at the Queens Borough Library in New York City after which it moved to several locations throughout the United States.
 
In early 2001, an exhibition titled ''The Art of John Dos Passos'' opened at the Queens Borough Library in New York City after which it moved to several locations throughout the United States.
  
 
==Dos Passos Prize==
 
==Dos Passos Prize==
The [[John Dos Passos Prize]] is a literary award given annually by the Department of English and Modern Languages at [[Longwood University]]. The prize seeks to recognize "American creative writers who have produced a substantial body of significant publication that displays characteristics of John Dos Passos's writing: an intense and original exploration of specifically American themes, an experimental approach to form, and an interest in a wide range of human experiences."
+
The John Dos Passos Prize is a literary award given annually by the Department of English and Modern Languages at Longwood University. The prize seeks to recognize "American creative writers who have produced a substantial body of significant publication that displays characteristics of John Dos Passos's writing: an intense and original exploration of specifically American themes, an experimental approach to form, and an interest in a wide range of human experiences."
  
 
==Literary works==
 
==Literary works==
 
*''The Scene of Battle''  (1919)
 
*''The Scene of Battle''  (1919)
 
*''One Man's Initiation: 1917''  (1920)
 
*''One Man's Initiation: 1917''  (1920)
*''[[Three Soldiers]]'' (1921)
+
*''Three Soldiers'' (1921)
 
*''A Pushcart at the Curb'' (1922)
 
*''A Pushcart at the Curb'' (1922)
 
*''Rosinante to the Road Again'' (1922)
 
*''Rosinante to the Road Again'' (1922)
 
*''Streets of Night'' (1923)  
 
*''Streets of Night'' (1923)  
*''[[Manhattan Transfer (novel)|Manhattan Transfer]]'' (1925)
+
*''Manhattan Transfer'' (1925)
 
*''Facing the Chair''  (1927)
 
*''Facing the Chair''  (1927)
 
*''Orient Express''  (1927)
 
*''Orient Express''  (1927)
*''[[U.S.A.trilogy|U.S.A.]]'' (1938). Three-volume set includes
+
*''U.S.A.'' (1938). Three-volume set includes
 
**''The 42nd Parallel'' (1930)
 
**''The 42nd Parallel'' (1930)
 
**''Nineteen Nineteen'' (1932)
 
**''Nineteen Nineteen'' (1932)
Line 64: Line 65:
 
*''The Great Days''  (1958)  
 
*''The Great Days''  (1958)  
 
*''Prospects of a Golden Age''  (1959)
 
*''Prospects of a Golden Age''  (1959)
*''[[Midcentury]]''  (1961)
+
*''Midcentury''  (1961)
 
*''Mr. Wilson's War''  (1962)
 
*''Mr. Wilson's War''  (1962)
 
*''Brazil on the Move''  (1963)
 
*''Brazil on the Move''  (1963)
Line 73: Line 74:
 
*''Easter Island: Island of Enigmas''  (1970)
 
*''Easter Island: Island of Enigmas''  (1970)
  
== Published as ==
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== Books published ==
*''U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel, 1919, The Big Money'' (Daniel Aaron and Townsend Ludington, eds.) ([[Library of America]], 1996) ISBN 1-883011-14-0.  
+
*''U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel, 1919, The Big Money'' (Daniel Aaron and Townsend Ludington, eds.) ([[Library of America]], 1996) ISBN 1883011140.
 +
 
 +
*''Novels 1920-1925: One Man's Initiation: 1917, Three Soldiers, Manhattan Transfer'' (Townsend Ludington, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 2003) ISBN 1931082391.
 +
 
 +
*''Travel Books & Other Writings 1916-1941: Rosinante to the Road Again; Orient Express; In All Countries; A Pushcart to the Curb; Essays, Letters, Diaries'' (Townsend Ludington, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 2003) ISBN 1931082405.
  
*''Novels 1920-1925: One Man's Initiation: 1917, Three Soldiers, Manhattan Transfer'' (Townsend Ludington, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 2003) ISBN 1-931082-39-1.
+
==References==
 +
* Ludington, Townsend. [http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1996/autumn/ludington-john-dos-passos/ "John Dos Passos, 1896-1970: Modernist Recorder of the American Scene"]. ''Virginia Quarterly Review''. Autumn 1996. Retrieved May 19, 2007.
 +
* Ludington, Townsend. ''John Dos Passos : a twentieth century odyssey'', Carroll and Graf, 1998. ISBN 0786705272
 +
* Nanney, Lisa. ''John Dos Passos''. Twayne Publishers, 1998. ISBN 0805739718
  
*''Travel Books & Other Writings 1916-1941: Rosinante to the Road Again; Orient Express; In All Countries; A Pushcart to the Curb; Essays, Letters, Diaries'' (Townsend Ludington, ed.) ([[Library of America]], 2003) ISBN 1-931082-40-5.
 
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
 +
All links retrieved August 3, 2022.
 +
*{{gutenberg author|id=John_Dos_Passos|name=John Dos Passos}}
  
*{{gutenberg author|id=John_Dos_Passos|name=John Dos Passos}}
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[[Category:Writers and poets]]
* Ludington, Townsend, [http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1996/autumn/ludington-john-dos-passos/ "John Dos Passos, 1896-1970: Modernist Recorder of the American Scene"], ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', Autumn 1996
 
  
[[category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
 
 
{{credits|John_Dos_Passos|118632920}}
 
{{credits|John_Dos_Passos|118632920}}

Latest revision as of 04:56, 3 August 2022

John Dos Passos

John Rodrigo Dos Passos (January 14, 1896 — September 28, 1970) was an important twentieth-century American novelist and artist. He was both a social and artistic revolutionary, supporting socialist causes while helping to redefine narrative fictional techniques. However, after a trip to the Soviet Union he began to distance himself from the Stalinist practices he witnessed there.

One of the first American writers to use the stream of consciousness technique, his blending of historical artifacts with fictional characters helped to create a greater sense of versimilitude and increased the sense of the novel's historical importance. This technique has been often copied and is a staple of modern narrative.

Early life

Dos Passos was born in Chicago, where his father was a wealthy lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent who could afford to give him the best education. In 1907, he was sent to study at The Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, then went with a private tutor on a six-month tour of France, England, Italy, Greece, and the Middle East to study the masters of classic art, architecture, and literature.

In 1913, he attended Harvard University. Following his graduation in 1916, he traveled to Spain to study art and architecture. With World War I raging in Europe and America not yet participating, Dos Passos volunteered in July 1917 for the S.S.U. 60 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, along with friends E. E. Cummings and Robert Hillyer. He worked as a driver in Paris, France, and in north-central Italy.

By the late-summer of 1918, he had completed a draft of his first novel. At the same time, he had to report for duty with the U.S. Army Medical Corps at Camp Crane in Pennsylvania. At war's end, he was stationed in Paris, where the U.S. Army Overseas Education Commission allowed him to study anthropology at the Sorbonne. One of Dos Passos' characters in the U.S.A. trilogy goes through virtually the same military career and stays in Paris after the war.

Literary career

Considered one of the Lost Generation writers, Dos Passos' first novel was published in 1920. Titled, One Man's Initiation: 1917, it was followed by an antiwar story, Three Soldiers, which brought him considerable recognition. His 1925 novel about life in New York City, titled Manhattan Transfer, was a commercial success and introduced experimental stream-of-consciousness techniques into Dos Passos' method.

A social revolutionary, Dos Passos came to see the United States as two nations, one rich and one poor. He wrote admiringly about the Wobblies and the injustice in the criminal convictions of Sacco and Vanzetti and joined with other notable personalities in the United States and Europe in a failed campaign to overturn their death sentences. In 1928, Dos Passos spent several months in Soviet Union studying their socialist system. He returned to Spain with Hemingway during the Spanish Civil War, but his views on the communist movement had already begun to change. Dos Passos broke with Hemingway and Herbert Matthews over their cavalier attitude towards the war and their willingness to submit their names to Stalinist propaganda efforts.

Over his long and successful career, Dos Passos wrote 42 novels, as well as poems, essays, and plays, and created more than 400 pieces of art.

His major work is the U.S.A. trilogy, comprising The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). Dos Passos used experimental techniques in these novels, incorporating newspaper clippings, autobiography, biography, and fictional realism to paint a vast landscape of American culture during the first decades of the twentieth century. Dos Passos' political and social reflections in the novel are deeply pessimistic about the political and economic direction of the United States, and few of the characters manage to hold onto their ideals through the First World War.

As Dos Passos grew older, he turned to the right politically. In the mid-1930s, he wrote a series of scathing articles about communist political theory. In The Big Money he created an idealistic Communist gradually worn down and destroyed by groupthink in the party. At a time when socialism was gaining popularity in Europe as a response to Fascism, Dos Passos' writings resulted in a sharp decline in international sales of his books. Nevertheless, recognition for his significant contribution in the literary field would come 30 years later in Europe when, in 1967, he was invited to Rome to accept the prestigious Feltrinelli Prize for international distinction in literature. Although Dos Passos partisans have long contended that his later work was ignored because of his changing politics, there is a consensus among critics that the quality of his novels drastically declined following the triumph reached with USA.

Between 1942 and 1945, Dos Passos worked as a journalist covering World War II. In 1947, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, but tragedy struck when an automobile accident killed his wife of 18 years, Katharine Smith, and cost him the sight in one eye. He eventually remarried to Elizabeth Holdridge (1909-1998), and he continued to write until his death in Baltimore in 1970. He is interred in Yeocomico Churchyard Cemetery in Cople Parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia, not far from where he had made his home.

Influence

Dos Passos' pioneering works of nonlinear fiction were a major influence in the field. In particular, Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz and Jean-Paul Sartre's The Roads To Freedom trilogy show the influence of his methods. In an often cited 1936 essay, Sartre referred to Dos Passos as "the greatest writer of our time." Perhaps the best-known work partaking of the cut-up technique found in U.S.A. is science fiction writer John Brunner's Hugo Award-winning 1968 "non-novel" Stand on Zanzibar, in which Brunner makes use of fictitious newspaper clippings, television announcements, and other "samples" taken from the news and entertainment media of the year 2010.

Artistic career

Before becoming a leading novelist of his day, John Dos Passos sketched and painted. During the summer of 1922, he studied at Hamilton Easter Field's art colony in Ogunquit, Maine. Many of his books published during the ensuing 10 years used jackets and illustrations that Dos Passos created. Influenced by various movements, he merged elements of Impressionism, Expressionism, and Cubism to create his own unique style. His work evolved to more than just a minor hobby with his first exhibition at New York's National Arts Club in 1922 and the following year at Gertrude Whitney's Studio Club in New York City.

While Dos Passos never gained recognition as a great artist, he continued to paint throughout his lifetime and his body of work was well respected. His art most often reflected his travels in Spain, Mexico, North Africa, plus the streets and cafés of the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris that he had frequented with good friends Fernand Leger, Ernest Hemingway, Blaise Cendrars, and others. Between 1925 and 1927, Dos Passos wrote plays as well as created posters and set designs for the New Playwrights Theatre in New York City. In his later years, his efforts turned to painting scenes around his residences in Maine and Virginia.

In early 2001, an exhibition titled The Art of John Dos Passos opened at the Queens Borough Library in New York City after which it moved to several locations throughout the United States.

Dos Passos Prize

The John Dos Passos Prize is a literary award given annually by the Department of English and Modern Languages at Longwood University. The prize seeks to recognize "American creative writers who have produced a substantial body of significant publication that displays characteristics of John Dos Passos's writing: an intense and original exploration of specifically American themes, an experimental approach to form, and an interest in a wide range of human experiences."

Literary works

  • The Scene of Battle (1919)
  • One Man's Initiation: 1917 (1920)
  • Three Soldiers (1921)
  • A Pushcart at the Curb (1922)
  • Rosinante to the Road Again (1922)
  • Streets of Night (1923)
  • Manhattan Transfer (1925)
  • Facing the Chair (1927)
  • Orient Express (1927)
  • U.S.A. (1938). Three-volume set includes
    • The 42nd Parallel (1930)
    • Nineteen Nineteen (1932)
    • The Big Money (1936)
  • The Ground we Stand On (1949)
  • District of Columbia (1952). Three-volume set includes
    • Adventures of a Young Man (1939)
    • Number One (1943)
    • The Grand Design (1949)
  • Chosen Country (1951)
  • Most Likely to Succeed (1954)
  • The Head and Heart of Thomas Jefferson (1954)
  • The Men Who Made the Nation (1957)
  • The Great Days (1958)
  • Prospects of a Golden Age (1959)
  • Midcentury (1961)
  • Mr. Wilson's War (1962)
  • Brazil on the Move (1963)
  • The Best Times: An Informal Memoir (1966)
  • The Shackles of Power (1966)
  • The Portugal Story (1969)
  • Century's Ebb: The Thirteenth Chronicle (1970)
  • Easter Island: Island of Enigmas (1970)

Books published

  • U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel, 1919, The Big Money (Daniel Aaron and Townsend Ludington, eds.) (Library of America, 1996) ISBN 1883011140.
  • Novels 1920-1925: One Man's Initiation: 1917, Three Soldiers, Manhattan Transfer (Townsend Ludington, ed.) (Library of America, 2003) ISBN 1931082391.
  • Travel Books & Other Writings 1916-1941: Rosinante to the Road Again; Orient Express; In All Countries; A Pushcart to the Curb; Essays, Letters, Diaries (Townsend Ludington, ed.) (Library of America, 2003) ISBN 1931082405.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

External links

All links retrieved August 3, 2022.

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