Strolling through the American Cultural Garden [Part 15]

John Rodrigo Dos Passos (1896–1970) was a Portuguese-American novelist, journalist, poet, and playwright.

The writer John Rodrigo Dos Passos.

Along with Steinbeck, Caldwell, and Hemingway, he was among the American novelists admired by European readers, especially the French public, during and immediately after World War II, although his work was known before the war. The French writer Sartre once considered Dos Passos the "greatest writer" of the 20th century.

Dos Passos was born into a wealthy family. At age 16, he entered Harvard University and graduated at age 20. After graduating, he went to Europe to study art and architecture. During World War I, he volunteered as a medic in France and Italy, and later worked as a correspondent in Spain and the Near East. During World War II, he served as a war correspondent.

Dos Passos was politically left-leaning. After his experiences in World War I, he became interested in socialism. In 1928, he went to the Soviet Union, curious about its political and social experiments, although he left with mixed impressions.

His experiences in the Spanish Civil War disillusioned him with left-wing politics and severed ties with fellow writer Ernest Hemingway. He became more conservative in the years following 1950.

His mood, like that of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, was one of sadness and disappointment about the country's reality, the shattering of ideals after World War I, and the plight of the "Lost Generation." He sharply criticized American capitalist society for destroying people in its pursuit of profit, although he remained deeply committed to genuine and distinctive American values. Through specific examples, he sought to critique the human order and raise metaphysical questions about the human condition.

During his long career, Dos Passos wrote 42 novels as well as numerous poems, essays, and plays, and created more than 400 works of art, including plays, travel books, and memoirs.

His first significant novel, *Three Soldiers * (1921), exposed the myths surrounding soldiers and denounced the military machine. This work brought him fame and integrated him into the literary movement of the "Lost Generation" of the early 20th century. His two major works are * Manhattan Transfer * (1925), a panoramic portrayal of life and spirit in the 1920s; and the trilogy * USA * (1938), comprising *The 42nd Parallel* (1930), *Nineteen Nineteen* ( 1932 ), and *The Big Money * (1936).

This trilogy of novels has no common plot but is a collection of many genres including short stories, notes, diaries, and sketches of famous American figures... reflecting America in the 1920s and 1930s, criticizing capitalism that divided America into a capitalist America and a people's America.

The film "Manhattan Train" employs naturalistic, impressionistic, and simultaneous techniques, interweaving scenes, dialogues, and stories to depict the complex life in New York and Manhattan. City life is portrayed through a series of characters from all walks of life: Bud, a farmer with blood on his hands who can't return; Ed Thatcher, an accountant and his daughter; Emile, a resourceful Frenchman who came to America to make his fortune; and McNiel, a wealthy milkman who received insurance money after an accident, whose beautiful wife becomes the mistress of his defense lawyer…

The United States of America novel series multiplied the techniques, imitations of film, prose, and painting used in A Streetcar in Manhattan , attracting the attention of writers rather than European readers after World War II.

The trilogy is a monumental portrayal of American society from 1900 to 1930, from before World War I to the early years of the Great Depression. The tone is bitter, the characters are all opportunists; the heroes are only a select few among the progressives who defended human dignity.

The novel consists of three volumes, each containing a series of stories named after characters. These stories overlap and are punctuated by short pieces of three types: current events (newspaper headlines, songs, advertisements, etc., evoking the atmosphere of a bygone era); biographies of real-life figures such as politicians, businesspeople, and artists; and the lens (impressionistic shots), highlighting the conflict between official and reality in America.

Volume I is The 42nd Parallel . The story takes place before World War I and features five main characters: Mac, a wandering printing worker struggling in the far-left movement; J. Moorehouse, a successful journalist known for his resourcefulness and formulaic approach; his secretary, Janey, who had an affair with him; his mistress, Eleanor, a refined businesswoman; and Charley, a mechanic who became a war hero and pilot.

Volume II, set in 1919 , introduces the years of World War I, adding several new characters beyond those in Volume I. Much of the story takes place in Europe. Janey's younger brother deserts the Marines and dies in a brawl on the night of the armistice. Dick, an anti-war activist, drives an ambulance in France and Italy. In Paris, Moorehouse leads the American Red Cross. In America, a young Jewish revolutionary discovers the cruelty of American employers.

Volume III of *The Great Finance* depicts the corruption of the 1920s leading up to the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression, the personal tragedies, and the failures of many of its main characters.

Through more than a dozen characters, Dos Passos introduces us to hundreds of Americans and explores the entire country. His work evokes the feeling that in capitalism, individuals have no life of their own, only fate. He aims to stir up a sense of rebellion against destiny.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/dao-choi-vuon-van-my-ky-15-279292.html