THE UNIVERSITE OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE M ANALYSIS OF JOHN DOS PASSOS’ U.S.A. A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHE BE F. UILLIAIl NELSON Norman, Oklahoma 1957 All ANALÏSIS OF JOHN DOS PASSOS' U.S.A. APPROVED 3Ï ijl^4 DISSERTATION COmTTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE CRITICS....................................... 1 II. THE CAST .......................................... III. CLOSE-UP .......................................... ho IV. DOCUMENTARY ....................................... 63 V. MONTAGE........................................... 91 VI. CROSS-CUTTING ...................................... Il4 VII. SPECIAL EFFECTS .................................... 13o VIII. WIDE ANGLE LENS .................................... l66 IX. CRITIQUE .......................................... 185 APPENDK ................................................. 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................. 245 111 ACKNOWLEDGEI'IENT Mjr thanks are due all those members of the Graduate Faculty of the Department of English who, knowingly and unknowingly, had a part in this work. My especial thanks to Professor Victor Elconin for his criticism and continued interest in this dissertation are long overdue. Alf ANALYSIS OF JOHN DOS PASSOS' U.S.A. CHAPTER I THE CRITICS The 42nd Parallel, the first volume of the trilogy, U.S.A., was first published on February 19, 1930- It was followed by 1919 on March 10, 1932, and The Big Money on August 1, 1936. U.S.A., which combines these three novels, was issued on January 27, 1938. There is as yet no full-length critical and biographical study of Dos Passes, although one is now in the process of being edited for publication.^ His work has, however, attracted the notice of the leading reviewers and is discussed in those treatises dealing with the American novel of the twentieth cen­ tury. The early discussions of the first two novels of the trilogy are necessarily incomplete, but both The 42nd Parallel and 1919 are discussed in several works which appeared in the early 1930's. ; One such study terms The 42nd Parallel a powerful example of a I harsh and desperate naturalism, but also notes the attempt "to symbolize jthe age of speed and of the machine." This study is brief and, on the j 1 — ■ ■■.. — ----— . , - - ■ ,, — ■ — — I ^Charles W. Bernardin, "The Development of John Dos Passos" (un­ published Ph.D. dissertation, Dept, of English, University of Wisconsin)., ihis dissertation has been made unavailable by the joint request of Mr. Bernardin and Mr. Dos Passos. iwhôlëy ünfâvoràl3Ïë",~ïinàing the subject matter and the technique unorigi-- nal.l The next of the early studies is that of Calverton, who, on the j contrary, is full of praise for Dos Passos. Calverton, as the chronicler of left-wing literary movements, finds that Dos Passos had moved steadily toward the left in the development of his writing. Commenting on the I first two books of the trilogy, Calverton says: ' Convinced that American society cannot continue in its present capi­ talistic form, Dos Passos believes that the only way out is through a social revolution which will emancipate the workers from their pre sent state of subjection to the industrialists.^ As he is in his comments on other current authors, Calverton is largely i ! concerned with the possible effects on readers of the Dos Passos novels j and with the fact that he, more than most "left-wing" writers, has . lattracted a wide audience. He comments that Dos Passos has a "fresh Im-j pulse" and "progressive vision." Dos Passos is vaguely compared with Michael Gold and Charles Yale Harrison; the effect of the entire account is that of welcoming Dos Passos to the left-wing fold. A much more complete and balanced account of the first two novels I of the trilogy is that of Beach in The Twentieth Century Novel, which appeared in 1932, the same year as the two studies previously mentioned, peach finds that the novels. The 42nd Parallel and 1919, are in "some ways quite distinct in method."^ This comment, which appears at the be- 1Ludwig Lewisohn. Expression in America (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1932), pp. 5IT-I0 . 1 I Vein on F. Calverton, The Liberation of American Literature (New jYork: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932), p. ! ^Joseph Warren Beach, The Twentieth-Century Novel (New York: The pentury Co., 1932), p. 501. ginning of his study, is never elaborated so that it is difficult to j understand just what he has in mind. Most observers have found the three novels closely related in method and in theme. Mr. Beach notes the many{ characters involved in the narrative and comments in detail on the vario devices employed by the novels. He calls the Camera Eye sections "cubist compositions" and finds in them evidence of the influence of James Joyce. This too, however, is not elaborated. The Biographies, according to Beach, permit the author, "by his particular ' slant' on each one of these head-liners, to suggest the tone of his personal commentary on the | civilization they represent."^ The Newsreels are in the book for two ! I jpurposes: first, that of indicating the progress of.time, and second, I that of suggesting the "mentality which produces and is fostered by the ! 2 ' newspaper, that epitome of our civilization." Unfortunately, this critic does not develop the second point, although it seems to be an important I hint for the understanding of the Newsreels. The present study.will in­ dicate more specifically that the function of the Newsreels is to charac terize the "collective" personality of the time. Mr. Beach concludes that the reasons for Dos Passos' peculiar method may be found in the new concern of the novelist--the concern for the entire social organism. He finds that on the grounds of both subject matter and craftsmanship, Dos Passos is one of the most important novelists now writing in English.^ Two additional studies, because they appeared before thé publi- i ^Ibid., p. 503. ^Ibid. ^Ibid., p. 511. cation of the entire trllogr, also deal only with the first two novels. The first, by Harry Hartwick, refers to Dos Passos as an anarchist; "Dos Passos would remove law entirely, and trust to the inherent 'goodness' of man's nature to restrain him from wrongdoing and selfishness."^ Mr. Hartwick describes the various devices of the novels, finding that the [Newsreels lend a "sense of multiplicity" to the volumes. He refers to the Camera Eye sections as being from Dos Passos' own "stream-of-con­ sciousness" and says that they are evidence of "suppressed estheticism," The 42nd Parallel and 1919 are found to be a "pair of enlarged tabloid papers"; they are termed expressionistic, dadaist, and futuristic. Dos Passos' manner of writing is called the flicker technique. The other study, by Harlan Hatcher, carefully points out that while Dos Passos would be the last to object that the implication of his novel is Marxist, these things are not directly stated in the novel. Mr. Hatcher creates a picture of a theoretical Marxist who is too much of an artist to use the novel as a means of direct pleading or as a means of caricature. Dos 2 Passos thus escapes the limitations of a novelist like Upton Sinclair. Here also Dos Passos' method is referred to as "motion picture technique." The first study to deal with the entire trilogy is that of C. ^ John McCole, entitled Lucifer at Large. This book contains a hesitating recognition of the contrast "between the lives led by the 'Big Money' people and the lives led by the poor." But it also finds that the para- ’ ^arry Hartwick, The Foreground of American Fiction (New York: American Book Co., 193^)> P. 290. : %arlan Hatcher, Creating the Modern American Novel (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1935)j PP. 13^-35. 5 sitic lifé“l.s~prësëntëdr~sô^ attractively as to offset the effectiveness of the contrast.^ The Newsreels and the Biographies are considered to be for the purposes of providing the time setting and atmosphere of the i hovels, but the Camera Eye sections are dismissed with the remark that | they are "highly subjective and extremely echometric." The social im­ plications of the novel are like the techniques: too new, too unaged for this critic. They are, generally speaking, deterministic and defeatist. Since the characters are going to be defeated in any event, the tragedies of Mr. Dos Passos' heroes are scarcely tragedies at all. Mr. McCole is ! ! aware that Dos Passos is criticizing the industrial and economic faults ! I in our society, and he feels that the solution suggested by the trilogy j j is that of anarchism. Finally, this critic reminds the reader that | novels like those of Margaret Mitchell, Zona Gale, and Edna Ferber con- j tain no signs of pessimism, defeatism, and despair, and suggests that we | must "look to our 'regionalists' for that real temper which alone can j counteract the literary distemper of our times." j The next study of the trilogy makes much of the contrast between ' the fictional characters of the Narratives and the living people of the Biographies. The first are so buried in sensuality and defeat that they are overshadowed by the real-life people, who, for all their faults, are more articulate and purposeful. The Narratives and the Biographies are ■ ; i jcompared to a picture and its frame. V/hile the frame points out a U.S.A.I jfar from perfect, it does present a more healthful atmosphere in which : ' ' I C. John McCole, Lucifer at Large (New York: Longmans, Green & bo., ]#37), p. 188. ; %bid., p. 200. rthe^"cHafâcTëFs~’^èâïfië~ozone instëââ^ôf’^ârbon diox^iâë’.'"*^ Dôs’'Pâssos ’ 1 style is found to be undistinctlve, dull, and full of self-conscious j mannerisms; yet "Dos Passos' command of good prose is beyond debate." j This critic finds that Dos Passos has no social program, that he is | "disturbed by the entire machine age." He is divided between his sen- I sitivity as an artist and the forces which compel him to be the pseudo- ' scientist with a deterministic attitude.