I first discovered John Dos Passos's USA Trilogy back in 1978 during my first semester at UC Davis. I picked up the trilogy, and read about halfway through the first book "The 42d Parallel" and then got distracted. I have always meant to finish the book and the trilogy.
This is not an indictment of the book. Even at 18, I was floored by the poetry of the autobiographical vignettes that Dos Passos sprinkles throughout the book. He introduces the readers to the great men of the early 20th century - Debs, Steinmetz, Edison, Fighting Bob LaFollette and others - many of whom we remember, but most of whom are forgotten. In a few short pages, he brings the essence of those men back to life. It was enough to induce me to buy the Library of Congress edition thirty years later.
The sense of the book that Dos Passos meant to communicate was that the 20th century was an onrushing era of energy and change - the first moment of "future shock" before that phrase was coined. Thus, like T.S. Elliot's "The Waste Land", the story is fractured and kaleidoscopic, told from different perspectives, often with quick changes in perspective. Thus, along with the biographical stories, Dos Passos fractures the story with "Newsreel" sections - headlines from news stories of the time - and "Camera Eye" sections - which seem to be autobiographical memoirs from the author. The story is told from the perspective of five characters - in this book; more to come in the later books - who are picked up and dropped at various points in their lives. The stories are separate, but the characters can overlap. For example, later in the book, focal character Charlie meets the brother of a friend of focal character Janie.
So, this is not a book with an easily described plot, and that is the point. This is literature, which is about characters and not about plot. The characters we get are not particular appealing; they seem to be on the make or quite willing to leave wives and children behind. That's probably the point, also; they are typical, every-men and every-women experiencing the changing world.
In many ways, I think that waiting forty years made me appreciate the book more than my 18 year old self could have appreciated it. I loved the historical elements - the pre-WW I phrases and attitudes and expectation, and the sense of being there at that time. We see, for example, the fact that many Americans were pro-German and that the issue of Socialism was quite alive at this time.
The 18-year-old me, however, did recognize something - namely, that John Brunner's Hugo-award winning "Stand on Zanzibar" was patterned on the USA trilogy, complete with multiple - although only two - focal characters, imaginary headlines of the then near future, excerpts from Chad C. Mulligan's writings, all of which was intended to do what Dos Passos had done, 30 years before, i.e., communicate "future shock."
I listened to a portion of this book as an audiobook, which actually improved the reading. Dos Passos writes in an indirect free-style that picks up on the slang and mannerism of the character he is following at the time. The narrator did a great job of communicating that aspect of Dos Passos' writing, which I might have been missing in my reading. Likewise, I had a tendency to skim the "Camera Eye" sections, but having a narrator slow me down and pay attention to the entire section, before rushing on to the next part of the story, paid dividends. Finally, the narrator brought out ironies that I was not picking up in the "Newsreel" sections. If nothing else, the narrator gave me a clue to how to better appreciate this fine book.
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The 42nd Parallel (U.S.A. Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherMariner Books
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Publication dateDecember 24, 2013
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File size1153 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
10 1.5-hour cassettes
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"The single greatest novel any of us have written, yes, in this country in the last one hundred years." -- Norman Mailer
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
John Dos Passos (1896-1970), a member of the Lost Generation, was the author of more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, including THREE SOLDIERS and MANHATTAN TRANSFER.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"The single greatest novel any of us have written, yes, in this country in the last one hundred years." -- Norman Mailer
Product details
- ASIN : B00H12ACKI
- Publisher : Mariner Books; 1st edition (December 24, 2013)
- Publication date : December 24, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 1153 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 350 pages
- Lending : Not Enabled
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Best Sellers Rank:
#177,004 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #554 in Classic American Fiction
- #594 in Classic Literary Fiction
- #715 in Classic Historical Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
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4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
172 global ratings
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Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2018
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23 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2019
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No doubt Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner deserve their renown but, perhaps, our daunting even deadly times demand we read their compatriot John Dos Passos. The one who gets the least attention of the four now deserves the most. The timing is right for USA, a three-part novel that’s relevant to our tweets, to our headlines. From Mac in THE 42nd PARALLEL crossing the El Paso-Juarez bridge; to “The Body of an American” in 1919 interred at Arlington National Cemetery; to labor advocate Mary French in THE BIG MONEY organizing yet another protest after Eddy Spellman is shot dead. The Dos Passos narrative method cross breeds novelist and chronicler to enhance both fiction and nonfiction, a hybridization worthy of Luther Burbank.
While the concerns of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner characters are largely private, those of Dos Passos characters are often public: social, political, economical, ethical, moral. At the same time his canvas is so broad it includes the opposition. There may be revolution in the air but there’s counter-revolution in the shadows and it’s a doozy. This novel tries to encompass all of society within the segregated realities that word meant in 1930’s America. No surprise Dos Passos himself begins as a socialist and ends as a Goldwater republican. That’s the American way. Or one of them anyway. As the Europeans so kindly point out: America has two political parties, both being conservative.
Your smart phone will help elucidate many of the Newsreels and help you bone up on the Dos Passos biography for The Camera Eyes. Both will remain a challenge for you, as they are meant to be. James Joyce did the same and, for Dos Passos, served as a modern model as Defoe and Thackeray served as his traditional models.
Does the system, whatever system it may be, and that system’s big interests, control our lives? Hell, if they did back then it’s a cinch they do now. What controls you? Maybe that phone in your hand. Maybe even this very website. Saul Bellow: “It’s true enough that a simple belief in progress goes with a deformed conception of human nature.”
While the concerns of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner characters are largely private, those of Dos Passos characters are often public: social, political, economical, ethical, moral. At the same time his canvas is so broad it includes the opposition. There may be revolution in the air but there’s counter-revolution in the shadows and it’s a doozy. This novel tries to encompass all of society within the segregated realities that word meant in 1930’s America. No surprise Dos Passos himself begins as a socialist and ends as a Goldwater republican. That’s the American way. Or one of them anyway. As the Europeans so kindly point out: America has two political parties, both being conservative.
Your smart phone will help elucidate many of the Newsreels and help you bone up on the Dos Passos biography for The Camera Eyes. Both will remain a challenge for you, as they are meant to be. James Joyce did the same and, for Dos Passos, served as a modern model as Defoe and Thackeray served as his traditional models.
Does the system, whatever system it may be, and that system’s big interests, control our lives? Hell, if they did back then it’s a cinch they do now. What controls you? Maybe that phone in your hand. Maybe even this very website. Saul Bellow: “It’s true enough that a simple belief in progress goes with a deformed conception of human nature.”
6 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2019
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I spent a majority of this book trying to decide if his style was brilliant or simply irritating. The storyline is interrupted with "newsreels" which are disjointed topical references with popular songs of the day inserted throughout. There are also chapters called "The Cameras Eye" that consist of run on sentences with some semblance of a sub-plot. The casual use of racial slurs and stereotypes are quite jarring. This book was written in the 1930's and is probably a good example of the attitude of the time. No wonder we still struggle with racial equality. Once again reference is made to a color as N----- pink and try as I might I can find no references for that.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2020
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Well, again a book I should have read fifty years ago. I find his vision so much broader and deeper than any of his more celebrated cohorts. The style is a laughingly modern, almost thoroughly post-modern, yet again this seems not to be widely appreciated. He is also capable of complex characterization, subtle ethical positioning and prose that reaches into fine evocative poetry. The story also moves right along with fascinating interweavings.
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2021
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I greatly enjoyed reading USA many years ago and set out to read it again.
I got a hard-cover copy from the library and then thought it would be more convenient to read it on Kindle, since the font would be bigger for my aging eyes.
A bit surprised at the price but just accepted that.
I started to read and was surprised and disappointed to see the great illustrations by Reginald Marsh are not included in the Kindle edition.
I got a hard-cover copy from the library and then thought it would be more convenient to read it on Kindle, since the font would be bigger for my aging eyes.
A bit surprised at the price but just accepted that.
I started to read and was surprised and disappointed to see the great illustrations by Reginald Marsh are not included in the Kindle edition.
Top reviews from other countries
butler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Revealing a truth behind all the lies.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2016Verified Purchase
Although interesting in its own right this is one of the novels known to have influenced Adam Curtis, perhaps one of our most gifted documentary makers. This novel also shares that clear vision of the truth behind the body of lies which is the Establishment.
3 people found this helpful
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KateP
3.0 out of 5 stars
If you have time...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 21, 2018Verified Purchase
A challenging read but so worthwhile.
One person found this helpful
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Karen Langley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2015Verified Purchase
A book that remains contemporary; unusual style, but one that cuts deep to the bone of egotistic, materialist society. Brilliant.
One person found this helpful
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leisure1953
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pressi!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 25, 2017Verified Purchase
Bought for son in law, he loves it.
Mr. W. Cannock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2014Verified Purchase
Excellent quality copy and a brilliant book
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