What intrigued me about John Dos Passos besides the fact that both of my teachers hold him is such high regard, was his journey to success. I couldn't fathom how someone could seemingly choose random subjects, throw in some indentations, and this work ultimately become globally renowned. Though, after reading one of his works Newsreel XVII, I came to acknowledge Dos Passos' work not as nonsense but writing of a rare creative sophistication. A passage I thought was completely representative of this creativity came in the third full paragraph:
"Austrians leave hot rolls in haste to get away giant wall of water rushes down valley professor says Beethoven gives the impression of a juicy steak"
Its actually like a game reading Dos Passos' work. It's a puzzle of sorts where one subject ends and another begins and the reader must decipher when that occurs.
Believe it or not Dos Passos was not just a weird guy trying to play around with sentence structure. He was the one of the founding fathers of the lost generation, possibly one of the most important eras of American literature. The other key figures of the lost generation include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. This "lost generation" was a result of World War I, as the morale of most Americans at the time following the war was low, this prompted the eccentric writing from writers of the time.
Is there a new "lost generation" of today? What circumstances do you feel would create such a thing? Would Dos Passos' style of writing, if reproduced by writers today be appreciated?
Hi Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI love this angle you are taking and how you kept your mind open to a writer whose style is less than conventional. I especially love this quote:
"Its actually like a game reading Dos Passos' work. It's a puzzle of sorts where one subject ends and another begins and the reader must decipher when that occurs."
You might end with a suggestion of a writer you do think is similar to DP.