The first thing that captured my imagination about the Dos Passos's U.S.A. Trilogy was the clever artwork of the Signet Classics, which were prominently displayed in the bookstores of my college youth. I finally bought them, and they stayed on my shelves for a number of years. I do not recall when I finally read them, but I did it over a period of years, probably during the 1990s.
The Signet Classics were notable because they each contained an introduction by writer and literary critic Alfred Kazin, who summarized the three books of the trilogy —The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936)— as a portrayal of America before it became a superpower. We grew up thinking of America as that way, but Kazin reminds us that America was a raw and often brutal country in the first quarter of the 20th century. (To better understand significance of Dos Passos's work, check out the essay by James Mustich, author of 1000 Books to Read Before You Die, E Pluribus Unum. On John Dos Passos's U.S.A.)
Kazin writes that Dos Passos shows how the rich men of America (characterized by J. P. Morgan) controlled the lives of working men and women. The average man or woman didn't have a chance against the "mass culture, mass superstition and mass slogans" perpetrated by the powerful.
Another memorable aspect of the Signet Classics is that they were illustrated by Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) who drew for The New Yorker in the 1920s but went on to become an artist of some renown and a contemporary of the more well-known Thomas Hart Benton. Marsh was known for his "depictions of life in New York City in the 1920s and 30s." (Wikipedia). A sample of Marsh's work graces the cover of earlier paperbacks, shown at the left.
Flashback and Flashforward - 192 Books
In September 2014, my partner Denise and I did a self-guided bookstore tour in the Chelsea section of New York City, which I wrote about in the posting Chelsea Lit Crawl.
Usually if I like a new bookstore, I will make an effort to purchase something and at 192 Books, I bought the Library of America edition of the U.S.A. trilogy, which wrapped Dos Passo's work into a single volume. I replaced my tattered paperbacks. not knowing whether I would ever pick it up again and reread it.
For those not familiar with the Library of America, it is a nonprofit publisher championed by critic Edmund Wilson (1895 - 1974), which published its first book in 1982. LOA has since then published 300 volumes of works ranging from poetry, novels, crime writing, science fiction, essays and journalism.
This summer our GRSG book (support) group selected The 42nd Parallel— partly I suspect because I had this book waiting on my shelf. Since the LOA edition is printed on "premium acid-free lightweight opaque paper that...will not turn yellow or brittle for centuries," the book was in mint condition. The Smyth-sewn bindings also ensured "that the books open easily and lie flat without crinkling or buckling."
Though I miss the Kazin commentary and the Reginald Marsh artwork of the Signet paperbacks, this edition more than makes up for it because it includes a Dos Passos's biographical timeline, a chronology of world events, and some annotation (including timely translations of some French phrases). All helpful because the U.S.A. trilogy is a history of America, which included many characters galivanting around Europe during the first World War. (The characters in 1919 spend their time in the Parisian and Italian cafés far away from the front.)
I am not sure that Dos Passos is for everybody but if you look at some of LOA's other offerings, I am sure you can find something of interest. And don't worry, you don't have to read it right away.
