Dos Passos, John Roderigo

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Dos Passos, John (Roderigo)

 

Born Jan. 14, 1896, in Chicago; died Sept. 30, 1970, in Baltimore. American writer.

The first novels of Dos Passos, One Man’s Initiation (1920) and Three Soldiers (1921; Russian translation, 1924), belong to the literature of the “lost generation.” The novel Manhattan Transfer (1925; Russian translation, 1927) began a period of formalistic experimentation for Dos Passos. His most important work is the trilogy U.S.A., which includes The 42nd Parallel (1930; Russian translation, 1931), Nineteen-Nineteen (1932; Russian translation, 1933), and The Big Money (1936); in it the writer sketched a panorama of life in the USA in the 1920’s. After the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, he broke with leftist circles. In the trilogy District of Columbia (1939-48), other novels (including Midcentury,1961), and journalistic writings, Dos Passos revealed his antidemocratic tendencies.

WORKS

The Best Times: An Informal Memoir. New York, 1968.

REFERENCES

Zatonskii, D. “Iskusy lukavogo besa.” Literaturnaia gazeta, June 6, 1963.
Geismar, M. Writers in Crisis. Boston, 1942.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.