The Times Literary Supplement: John Dos Passos died in 1970, the last survivor of the so-called Lost Generation. As it happens, his first novel, One Man’s Initiation: 1917, was published in 1920, offering a handy coincidence to anyone thinking of reviving his reputation. Dos Passos was also a painter. Here we show a detail from… Read more »
I’ve revisited my grandfather’s very first novel, One Man’s Initiation: 1917, as I prepare to see the new film 1917, directed by Sam Mendes. Dos Passos was a novice when he wrote it, but not a fool. He excelled at romantic vignettes: “in the last topaz-clear rays of the sun, the foliage of the Jardin… Read more »
What a splendid way to end the year! Yesterday, The New Yorker published a re-appraisal of John Dos Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy. These “second reads” of his books are rare indeed and this one makes great points about JDP’s relevance today. “The line for which Dos Passos is best known comes from his anguished account, in… Read more »
4th Biennial John Dos Passos Society Conference: October 8-10, 2020 Instituto Cervantes, New York City Abstract Submission Deadline: April 30, 2020 Graduate students wishing to be considered for supplemental travel funding must submit a 1500-word draft by June 30, 2020 The John Dos Passos Society invites papers for its Fourth Biennial Conference, to be held… Read more »
Congratulations to Onésimo Teotónio Almeida on winning the 2019 John Dos Passos Prize, administered by the autonomous region of Madeira. Story in Portuguese.
Successful meeting of the John Dos Passos Society last week at the annual conference of the American Literature Association in Boston, MA. Presenters and representatives from Spain, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. Dos Passos led an international, multicultural life, and scholars regularly fly from around the world to seek fellowship in JDP studies. The… Read more »
Except for Midcentury (1961), my grandfather John Dos Passos had great trouble selling books and earning critical acclaim with his books after the U.S.A trilogy (1938). Yet, contrary to the critical consensus that still damages his legacy, his pen did not suddenly and irrevocably become inert from 1938-1970. Some of his last works were his… Read more »
Again, per Miguel Oliveira‘s book on John Dos Passos as immigrant, many Portuguese-American immigrants change their surnames to assimilate into American culture. “dos Passos” became “Dos Passos” (a relatively small change) and, in other families, “Pereira” became “Perry.” Super-famous American singer, Steve Perry, the voice of Journey and “Don’t Stop Believin’,” was born in Hanford,… Read more »
Traditionally, many Portuguese coming to the United States have settled in New England, in Massachusetts or Maine, along the coast. My grandfather in fact lived many years, happily, in Provincetown, among the seamen and artists. Reading portions of Miguel Oliveira’s wonderful book, From a Man without a Country to an American by Choice: John Dos… Read more »
To fête the New Year, enjoy this remarkable 1969 interview with John Dos Passos in Argentina, recently reprinted by Los Andes. One of the last press interviews of his life, when he was scrambling across South America to see special places before succumbing to heart disease. The photo is never-before-seen by the Dos Passos family.
Once again, a sweet recollection from Virginia Spencer Carr’s biography of Dos Passos, paperback, page 547: 1962, Dos Passos reacts to E.E. Cummings’ death. “I can hardly believe it yet. Though I didn’t see him very often, it leaves a great hole in my life. I had grown fonder of him through the years. As… Read more »
Quite sure this the last time my grandfather wrote Hemingway. It’s noted in Virginia Spencer Carr’s biography of Dos Passos, which is really worth a close read. “In the spring of 1961 when Dos Passos read that Hemingway had almost walked into the spinning blades of an airplane propeller, he dropped him a note, saying… Read more »
“September 1, 1957, Dos Passos boarded a plane with John Steinbeck and John Hersey to fly to Tokyo as America’s official representatives at the twenty-ninth International PEN Congress. The trio–billed as ‘the three Johns: Dos Passos, Steinbeck, and Hersey’–was given a thunderous ovation when introduced, but Dos Passos was the obvious star of the American… Read more »
More intriguing history from the Dos Passos biography written by Virginia Spencer Carr. “Dodd, Mead had proposed another book they wanted Dos Passos to write, but he said that it would take an advance of at least twenty-five thousand dollars for him to research and write it. The book was to be a broad study… Read more »
Per Virginia Spencer Carr’s biography of John Dos Passos, “Dos Passos sent Carl Sandburg an advance copy of The Head and Heart of Thomas Jefferson, saying: ‘Ever since you rescued Lincoln from the embalmers I’ve had a notion of doing something similar with Jefferson. I haven’t the faintest notion whether I have succeeded or failed,… Read more »
From the staff at Ultimate Classic Rock: “I think in the three years between Born to Run and Darkness, he’d [Bruce Springsteen] simply learned a lot. He spent a great deal of time in court, for one thing; he began listening to Hank Williams and old-time, class-conscious country music. He’d seen the films of John… Read more »
Another discovery in re-reading the 2 biographies of John Dos Passos–his fondness of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. He gave a copy of it to his goddaughter Susan Lowndes for her 13th birthday (Maybe a bit too soon). He advised, “If you’ve already read it, read it again–I always get something new out of it.” Summer… Read more »
Research for my speech has sharpened my appreciation for my grandfather’s prestigious reporting career. For example, Dos Passos’ observations of the Nuremberg trials in fall 1945. “Except for Hess, who slumps as if in a coma, the accused have an easy expectant look as if they had come to see the play rather than to… Read more »
“War is a time of Caesars,” wrote John Dos Passos in The Grand Design (1949). As I study biographical material for my Lisbon speech, I’m noticing material I can use for an essay I’ve long wanted to write about John Dos Passos and democracy. There is very little scholarship about him as a historian or… Read more »
Interesting discovery for me. In fall 1941, John Dos Passos met fellow writer H.G. Wells in London at the PEN Club congress. Dos Passos then visited with Wells as his home at the edge of Regents Park. He very much enjoyed Wells’ company, describing him as a “spruce figure…his sharp-clipped white mustache and the liquid… Read more »
