John Dos Passos facts for kids

Quick facts for kids John Dos Passos
Born	John Roderigo Dos Passos January 14, 1896 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	September 28, 1970 (aged 74) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist playwright poet journalist painter translator
Nationality	American
Literary movement	Modernism Lost Generation
Notable works	Three Soldiers (1921), Manhattan Transfer (1925), U.S.A. (1938)
Notable awards	Antonio Feltrinelli Prize

John Roderigo Dos Passos (January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American writer. He wrote many novels, plays, and poems. He is most famous for his series of books called the U.S.A. trilogy.

Born in Chicago, John Dos Passos went to Harvard College and finished in 1916. As a young man, he traveled a lot, visiting Europe and parts of Asia. He learned about different cultures, art, and literature. During World War I, he helped as an ambulance driver in Paris and Italy. Later, he joined the United States Army Medical Corps.

In 1920, his first novel, One Man's Initiation: 1917, was published. His novel Manhattan Transfer became very popular in 1925. His U.S.A. trilogy includes The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). In 1998, this trilogy was ranked among the top 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. These books were written in an experimental way, mixing stories, news, and biographies to show what American life was like in the early 1900s.

Besides writing, Dos Passos is known for how his political ideas changed over time. After World War I, he became interested in socialism (a system where the community owns and controls production) and pacifism (the belief that war is wrong). These ideas influenced his early books. In 1928, he visited the Soviet Union to see their new social system, but he had mixed feelings about it. His experiences during the Spanish Civil War made him lose faith in some left-wing political ideas. This also caused a disagreement with his friend, writer Ernest Hemingway. By the 1950s, his political views had changed a lot, and he became more conservative. In the 1960s, he supported presidential candidates Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon.

Dos Passos was also an artist. He designed the covers for his own books, inspired by the art style called modernism from Paris in the 1920s. He passed away in Baltimore, Maryland. His home in Virginia, called Spence's Point, became a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

Early Life and Education

John Dos Passos was born in Chicago. His parents were John Randolph Dos Passos, a lawyer, and Lucy Addison (Sprigg) Madison. His father was already married when John was born. As a child, John traveled a lot with his mother, who was often ill and preferred to be in Europe.

John's father married Lucy in 1910, when John was 14. However, he did not officially recognize John as his son for another two years. John's father was an expert on trusts, which were large business groups. He supported these powerful companies, even though his son would later criticize them in his novels.

After returning to the U.S. with his mother, John went to the Choate School in Connecticut in 1907. He used the name John Roderigo Madison there. His parents later arranged for him to travel with a private teacher for six months. They visited France, England, Italy, Greece, and parts of Asia. During this trip, he studied famous works of art, buildings, and literature.

In 1912, Dos Passos started at Harvard College. There, he became friends with another writer, e.e. cummings. Cummings once said that Dos Passos seemed "foreign" and didn't look like a typical American.

After graduating with honors in 1916, Dos Passos went to Spain to study art and architecture. In July 1917, as World War I was happening, he volunteered as an ambulance driver. He worked with friends like Cummings and Robert Hillyer. He also drove ambulances for the American Red Cross in Italy.

By late 1918, Dos Passos had finished writing a first version of his first novel. At the same time, he had to join the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Pennsylvania. On Armistice Day (the end of World War I), he was in Paris. The U.S. Army allowed him to study anthropology (the study of human societies and cultures) at the Sorbonne university. His novel Three Soldiers was based on his experiences in the war. It features a character who has a similar military life and stays in Paris after the war.

Writing Career and Major Works

John Dos Passos is considered one of the "Lost Generation" writers. This group of writers lived and worked in Europe after World War I. He published his first novel, One Man's Initiation: 1917, in 1920. He wrote it while serving in the war. His next book, the anti-war novel Three Soldiers, made him well-known.

His 1925 novel, Manhattan Transfer, was about life in New York City. It was very successful and used new writing styles, like stream-of-consciousness. This is a way of writing that tries to show a character's thoughts and feelings as they happen. These new ideas also shaped his most famous work, the U.S.A. trilogy. The first book in this series came out in 1930.

Dos Passos was interested in social change. He believed the United States was divided into two nations: one rich and one poor. He admired the Industrial Workers of the World (a labor union) and spoke out against the unfair convictions of Sacco and Vanzetti. He joined other famous people in trying to stop their death sentences, but they were not successful.

In 1928, Dos Passos spent several months in Russia to study socialism. He was a key person at the First American Writers Congress in 1935. This event was supported by the League of American Writers, which had ties to Communism. However, Dos Passos eventually disagreed with the idea that Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, should control what writers in the United States created.

In 1936–1937, he was part of the "Dewey Commission". This group looked into the accusations made during the Moscow Trials. These trials were part of a time when many Soviet leaders and thinkers were arrested and punished.

In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Dos Passos went back to Spain with Ernest Hemingway. They had met in Paris in the 1920s. However, Dos Passos's views on the Communist movement were already changing. He disagreed with Hemingway and Herbert Matthews about their casual attitude toward the war. He also felt they supported misleading Stalinist propaganda. This included covering up the Soviet role in the murder of José Robles, who was Dos Passos's friend and translator.

Dos Passos later wrote about Communism: "I have come to think... that civil liberties must be protected at every stage. In Spain, I am sure that the introduction of secret police methods by the Communists did as much harm as their tank men, pilots, and experienced military men did good. The trouble with an all-powerful secret police... is that once it gets started, there's no stopping it until it has corrupted the whole body politic. I am afraid that's what's happening in Russia."

Dos Passos attended the 1932 Democratic National Convention. He later wrote an article criticizing the choice of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the party's candidate. In the mid-1930s, he wrote many strong articles against Communist political ideas. In his novel The Big Money, he shows a character who is an idealist Communist but is slowly worn down by the group's thinking. Because socialism became popular in Europe due to the rise of fascism and Nazism, sales of his books dropped sharply around the world.

From 1942 to 1945, Dos Passos worked as a journalist and war correspondent. He reported on American actions in the Pacific and the situation in European cities after World War II.

In 1947, he was chosen to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. That same year, a car accident tragically killed his wife of 18 years, Katharine Foster Smith. The accident also caused him to lose sight in one eye. They did not have any children. In 1949, Dos Passos married Elizabeth Hamlyn Holdridge. They had one daughter, Lucy Hamlin Dos Passos, born in 1950.

His political views, which had always been part of his work, moved further to the right. In the early 1950s, Dos Passos briefly supported some of the goals of Joseph McCarthy. However, his long-time friend, journalist John Chamberlain, believed that Dos Passos always remained a libertarian. This means he believed in individual freedom and limited government.

In the 1950s, Dos Passos also wrote for magazines like American Heritage, The Freeman, and National Review. He wrote essays about historical figures like Thomas Jefferson.

In 1954, he published an important book called The Head and Heart of Thomas Jefferson. Another writer, Max Eastman, praised this book, saying Dos Passos brought Jefferson's ideas back to life.

In 1967, Dos Passos received the important Antonio Feltrinelli Prize in Rome for his contributions to literature. Some people believe his later work was ignored because his politics changed. However, other critics argue that the quality of his novels declined after the U.S.A. trilogy.

In the 1960s, he actively supported Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign and Richard M. Nixon's 1968 presidential campaigns. He also joined the group Young Americans for Freedom. He continued to write until he passed away in Baltimore, Maryland in 1970. He is buried in Virginia, near his home.

Over his long career, John Dos Passos wrote 42 novels. He also wrote many poems, essays, and plays. He created more than 400 pieces of art.

The U.S.A. Trilogy: A Closer Look

John Dos Passos's most important work is the U.S.A. trilogy. It includes The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). In these novels, Dos Passos used special writing techniques. He included newspaper clippings, parts of his own life story, biographies of real people, and fictional stories. This helped him create a wide picture of American culture in the early 20th century.

Even though each novel can be read alone, the trilogy is meant to be read as one complete story. Dos Passos's thoughts on politics and society in the novels are quite sad. He felt that the United States was heading in a bad direction politically and economically. Few characters in the books manage to keep their hopes and dreams after World War I. The trilogy shows the writer's support for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and his anger at how they were treated. The book also expresses strong negative feelings towards President Woodrow Wilson.

Artistic Career and Style

Before he became a famous novelist, John Dos Passos enjoyed sketching and painting. In the summer of 1922, he studied art in Maine. For about ten years after that, many of his books had covers and drawings that he created himself. He was influenced by different art styles like Impressionism, Expressionism, and Cubism. He combined these to create his own unique look. His art was shown for the first time at the National Arts Club in New York in 1922. The next year, it was displayed at Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's Studio Club.

While Dos Passos was not known as a great artist, he continued to paint throughout his life. His artwork was well-respected. His paintings often showed places he visited, like Spain, Mexico, and North Africa. He also painted scenes from the streets and cafes of Paris, where he spent time with friends like Fernand Léger and Ernest Hemingway.

Between 1925 and 1927, Dos Passos wrote plays. He also designed posters and sets for the New Playwrights Theatre in New York City. In his later years, he focused on painting scenes around his homes in Maine and Virginia.

In 2001, an art show called The Art of John Dos Passos opened in New York City. It then traveled to several other places across the United States.

Impact and Legacy

John Dos Passos's new ways of writing, especially his nonlinear fiction, had a big impact on other writers. Nonlinear fiction means the story doesn't follow a straight timeline. For example, books like Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz and Jean-Paul Sartre's Roads To Freedom trilogy were influenced by his methods. In 1936, Jean-Paul Sartre called Dos Passos "the greatest writer of our time."

American writer Mary McCarthy said that The 42nd Parallel was one of the main influences on her own writing. In a TV show about Dos Passos, writer Norman Mailer said that the three books of the U.S.A. trilogy represent the idea of a "Great American Novel."

Science fiction writers have also been inspired by Dos Passos. John Brunner's novel Stand on Zanzibar (1968) used Dos Passos's technique of including fake newspaper clippings and TV announcements. Joe Haldeman's novel Mindbridge (2014) also uses a similar collage style.

The British documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis says he is inspired by Dos Passos. He tries to use Dos Passos's techniques in his films. He explained that Dos Passos tells political stories but also shows what it felt like to live through those times.

In 2018, French director Agnès Varda said she learned a lot from reading. She mentioned learning how to edit from Dos Passos.

John Dos Passos Prize

The John Dos Passos Prize is a special award given each year by Longwood University. This prize honors American writers who have created many important works. These works should show qualities found in Dos Passos's writing. This includes exploring American themes, using experimental writing styles, and showing interest in many different human experiences.

Works by John Dos Passos

• One Man's Initiation: 1917 (1920), novel. Later called First Encounter in 1945.
• Three Soldiers (1921), novel
• Streets of Night (1923), novel
• Manhattan Transfer (1925), novel
• U.S.A. (1938). This is a three-book series:
  • The 42nd Parallel (1930), novel
  • Nineteen Nineteen (1932), novel
  • The Big Money (1936), novel
• District of Columbia (1952). This is another three-book series:
  • Adventures of a Young Man (1939), novel
  • Number One (1943), novel
  • The Grand Design (1949), novel
• Chosen Country (1951), novel
• Most Likely to Succeed (1954), novel
• The Great Days (1958), novel
• Midcentury (1961), novel
• The Best Times: An Informal Memoir (1966), a book about his own life

See also

• José Robles
• List of ambulance drivers during World War I