In a message dated 3/31/03 4:15:49 PM Eastern Standard Time,
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:
<<
If it helps, I was shocked by the ending of GRAPES OF
WRATH (I was a
teenager then). I didn't read that Dos Passos, but I
did read, IIRC, THE USA
TRILOGY long ago. Lots of desperation, urban
unemployment, ordinary working
stiffs in suits (like my husband said guys used to wear
at the pool room).
Would Horatio Algers be
anti-proletarian novels?
BTW, let me pass on a
compliment I heard about Navy civilians and their
writing. My father was complaining about some IRS
instructions--the senior
citizen deduction guidelines are tossed together in the
same paragraphs with
a slew of arcane trivia--and he said nobody working for
the Navy could get
away with such sloppy work.
Joy
Miker wrote:
>. . . . I'd really like to read THE
> GRAPES OF WRATH, but it's killing me to read Dos
Passos's
> 42ND PARALLEL. The characters are interesting but
nothing
> much is happening. The child in me demands action.
The only
> thing that allowed me to continue was that he
slacked off on
> the Marxist rhetoric after a while. I don't like
that, and
> it has nothing to do with political preferences. I
don't
> like Horatio Algers either.
>>
Actually the 42ND PARALLEL is one of the novels in the USA
trilogy. It's been many years since I read the trilogy but I
do recall it getting tedious at times. I would recommend
MANHATTEN TRANSFER (1925) a one-shot for those wanted to
sample Dos Passos in his best remembered style. I like Dos
Passos a lot. His magazine and newspaper pieces, as assembled
in many collections are well worth seeking out.
One novel that had me hooked solid for 2/3rds of the way was
THE GREAT PRINCE DIES by Bernard Wolfe. What killed it for me
was when it buried the story under endless "who hit willie"
back and forths about Trotsky and Stalin and how the
revolution was betrayed. After moving along at a nice pace
towards Trotsky's assasination, it bogged down to a crawl. I
finally wanted to scream, "Just bury the axe in the back of
the little muthafucka's head!" There were some great scenes
and some nice characters but eventually, I just didn't
care.
I've maintain a love for old John Steinbeck. Not sure why the
critics and the literary gentry turned against him so
completely. Maybe he was taught in one too many high school
lit class.
Miker, I do think you would enjoy B. Traven. He hated all
governments. Beyond the well-known TREASURE OF THE SIERRA
MADRE (a novel I have reread more than any other single
book), try his THE DEATH SHIP for a tough novel that also
reflects his hatred of bureaucrats and such things as
passports. THE COTTON-PICKERS also comes to mind.
I appreciate George V. Higgins' art. I salute him. But
sometimes a few too many pages of his endless dialog gives me
a headache. I guess I have to be in the right mood to
appreciate his genius. And sometimes I am.
Richard Moore
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