John Dos Passos

John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos was an American writer known for his experimental approach to fiction and his exploration of social and political issues. He is best known for his "U.S.A. Trilogy," which includes the novels "The 42nd Parallel," "1919," and "The Big Money," a panoramic depiction of early 20th-century American life. His narrative style often incorporated stream-of-consciousness techniques and newsreel-like montages, making his work distinctive in the modernist literary movement. Though he began as a socialist, Dos Passos' political views became more conservative over time, influencing his later writing.

Author's Books:


CHAPTER I In the huge shed of the wharf, piled with crates and baggage, broken by gang-planks leading up to ships on either side, a band plays a tinselly Hawaiian tune; people are dancing in and out among the piles of trunks and boxes. There is a scattering of khaki uniforms, and many young men stand in groups laughing and talking in voices pitched shrill with crates excitement. In the brown light of... more...

I: A Gesture and a Quest Telemachus had wandered so far in search of his father he had quite forgotten what he was looking for. He sat on a yellow plush bench in the café El Oro del Rhin, Plaza Santa Ana, Madrid, swabbing up with a bit of bread the last smudges of brown sauce off a plate of which the edges were piled with the dismembered skeleton of a pigeon. Opposite his plate was a similar plate his... more...

PART ONE: MAKING THE MOULD I The company stood at attention, each man looking straight before him at the empty parade ground, where the cinder piles showed purple with evening. On the wind that smelt of barracks and disinfectant there was a faint greasiness of food cooking. At the other side of the wide field long lines of men shuffled slowly into the narrow wooden shanty that was the mess hall. Chins... more...