Customer Reviews (1)

In the Springtime of the American Republic
The title of this book gives away its age (it was originally written in 1957). No politically conscious publisher would dare present such an affront to today's sensibilities in the marketplace by not including others in the founding of the Republic. And they are right. That said, this little vignette into the foundation of the American republic by John Dos Passos is still a very good read about the post-revolutionary struggle to form a frame of national government out of the welter of conflicting appetites raised by the formal independence from "Mother England". John Dos Passos, at one time a writer whose star was as bright as Ernest Hemingway's, seems to have slipped some in the literary pantheon but his classic USA trilogy and other works are unjustly neglected. Yes, I know as he grew older he grew more conservative and thus beyond the pale. Nobody was as shocked as I was, after having read his progressive socially conscious works on the Jazz Age in America and on Republican Spain, to find him in the early 1960's as a sponsor of the reactionary Young Americans for Freedom. But enough of that. Let's get to this effort and what it means.

The events of the American Revolution and the process of building an effective national government from scratch today is covered with so much banal ceremony, flag- waving, unthinking sunshine patriotism and hubris it is hard to see the forest for the trees to the days when, as Lincoln stated, during that other great progressive action of this country's history- the Great Civil War of 1861-65- that this country was the last, best hope for civilization. Note this well- those men and women who rebelled against the king from Washington on down were big men and women out to do a big job. And they did it. A quick look at the political landscape today makes one thing clear. This country has no such men or women among its leaders today-not even close.

The usual cast of characters and defining events are here- the august, if somewhat fickle and prickly, Washington, the closet monarchist Adams, the not so closet monarchist Hamilton, the republican Jefferson, the fiery republican Madison, their hangers-on and underlings, their political fights and their differing conceptions of government. Dos Passos, as an experienced novelist, is able to bring these people alive, including lesser lights like Gouvernour Morris, Robert Morris (not related) and the Randolphs, with plenty of anecdotal musings about their strengths and weaknesses. For those familiar with the story of American nation building this book may not reveal anything new but for others- read on.






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John Dos Passos Revisited explores the entire career of this important writer, placing him in the historical context of the times which shaped his work, and addressing the artistic and political controversies that his own work sparked. Lisa Nanney seeks in the political flux of early twentieth-century America and its dynamic interchange among the arts for the sources of the narrative forms with which Dos Passos created a new modernist language. Nanney uses little-known sources such as apprentice fiction and poetry, letters and essays that reveal the impact of his friendships with important writers and painters of his day, and previously untapped sources such as the paintings and sketches Dos Passos executed throughout his lifetime to provide fresh insights into his career. Incorporating recent scholarship, this book is the first to view Dos Passos's aesthetic development as a modernist in light of the visual arts and his own body of painting. The quintessential introduction to a one-of-a-kind figure in American literature, John Dos Passos Revisited will be appreciated by both scholars and students of literature, art, and American studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating book
Nanney is able to dissect the personality of Dos Passos extraordinarily well.In addition, her writing style has become a favorite of mine.I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in Dos Passos, as well as those who are interested in American Studies in general. ... Read more

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No Pie In The Sky examines the treatment of the hobo in the works of Jack London, John Dos Passos and Jack Kerouac. London saw the hobo as a dispossessed worker, an inevitable by-product of capitalism, but his tone is buoyant and hopeful. He believes that Socialism's triumph will bring an end to the injustice of the capitalist system.Dos Passos' tone is pessimistic and elegiac as he chronicles the defeat of the hoboes; union; the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the triumph of the money machine.Flight is the dominant motif in Kerouac, as big government, big business and big unions impose a stultifying conformity. Faced with atomic annihilation, his hoboes turn inward, seeking refuge in Zen Buddhism and the built-in bomb shelter of the human psyche.

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