The U.S.A. Trilogy
John Dos Passos
"I read John Dos Passos' trilogy USA when I was in college, and when I picked it up I was immediately captivated by it. A lot of people are not familiar with John Dos Passos or his trilogy USA, and I really think that he s one of the undiscovered gems of American literature. As a teacher, I teach history in addition to being an author. I use excerpts of Dos Passos for both my history students and when teaching about fine, fine writing.
Dos Passos' USA is a trilogy, and it encompasses three books. The first book is called The 42nd Parallel, the second is called 1919, and the third is called The Big Money. They're really inter -- you could almost pick them up and just start reading anywhere. What he's done is created sort of four different sections to his book. One is following various characters who are archetypal characters; so you might have the young Union agitator, or the young woman who is going out and seeking her economic independence, or the young industrialist after the war; and so you're kind of following some of these characters along the way. Another are headlines from various newspapers from around the world, this sort of surreal kind of pastiche of things just kind of thrown together. The third is this incredibly innovative section called The Camera Eye, where it's this stream of consciousness writing where he sort of puts you in a scene and then just kind of following somebody along literally like you were looking through a camera's eye. Then the fourth are these wonderful mini-autobiographies of major figures in American history.
They are accessible to high school students with a little bit of guidance. I would give Dos Passos' USA trilogy, I'd give it about 4 -- stars."
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