On the 100th anniversary of the publication of John Dos Passos’s first published novel, One Man’s Initiation, scholar par excellence Lisa Nanney writes about the novel’s significance at the Liverpool University Press blog.

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.

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.