About
John Roderigo Dos Passos, born in Chicago in 1896, is a major figure of American modernism. A Harvard graduate in 1916, he served as a volunteer ambulance driver during World War I, an experience that fueled his early anti-war novels. His experimental style, blending stream of consciousness, newspaper collages, and biographical fragments, culminates in the U.S.A. trilogy, a social fresco of early 20th-century America. Politically engaged on the left in the 1920s-30s, he shifted toward conservatism after World War II. A prolific author, he left over forty books and numerous paintings.
* 1896-01-14 — † 1970-09-28
Major works
- Three Soldiers (1921)novel
- Manhattan Transfer (1925)novel
- The 42nd Parallel (1930)novel
- 1919 (1932)novel
- The Big Money (1936)novel
Key milestones
- 1916Graduated from Harvard University.
- 1947Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
- 1938Jean-Paul Sartre called him 'the greatest living writer of our time'.
Themes
Social and political critiqueModernity and narrative experimentaWar and disillusionmentAmerican identityEconomic inequality
Sources: anb.org · encyclopediavirginia.org · poetryfoundation.org