John Roderigo Dos Passos (1896–1970) was a writer, painter, and
political activist. He wrote over forty books, including plays,
poetry, novels, biographies, histories, and memoirs. He crafted
over four hundred drawings, watercolors, and other artworks.
Dos Passos considered himself foremost a writer of contemporary
chronicles. He preferred the moniker of “chronicler” because he was
happiest working at the edge of fiction and nonfiction.
Both genres benefited from his mastery of observation—his “camera
eye”—and his sense of historical context. Dos Passos sought to
ground fiction in historic detail and working-class, realistic
dialogue. He invented a multimedia format of songs, newsreels,
biographies, third-person fictional narrative, and first-person
semi-autobiographical narrative snapshots to convey the frenzy of
America’s industrialism and urbanism in the twentieth century. His
most memorable fiction—Three Soldiers (1921), Manhattan Transfer
(1925), and the U.S.A. trilogy (1938)—possesses the authority of
history and the allure of myth. Likewise, he sought to vitalize
nonfiction history and reportage with the colors, sounds, and
smells documented on his journeys across the globe.
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