39. John Dos Passos:

 

The 42nd Parallel

written: 1930

(467 pages)

 

read in September 2014

verdict: *** LIKE

 

While studying English literature at university, we somehow always managed to avoid the courses in American literature. I don't really know why, but they never spoke to us. That's the reason why we haven't read many "great American novels" so far, so we decided to start filling this gap with John Dos Passos' (1896-1970) most famous book The 42nd Parallel.

 

After the first few pages we were already pondering whether we had made the right choice. The novel is divided into several parts which are completely different in style. The first part was a Newsreel, a sort of amalgam of newspaper headlines, snippets from songs or radio announcements to reflect the spirit of the era in which the story would unfold. Those taglines were probably known to most of the readers in the early 1930s, which was the time the book first got published, but for us it was tedious reading, since we didn't know the period in so much detail and couldn't make the right connections to understand and enjoy the allusions.

 

Good thing though we didn't give up as easily, because once the story proper started, we were hooked. Several different characters get introduced in the various chapters of the novel, you learn about their childhood, youth and coming-of-age and how they get on in life, from the late 19th century all the way up to World War I. Through their life stories a panorama of the social and political problems of the era is unfolding: the budding socialist movement, the plans of the workers' associations, political corruption, job shortage and ensuing money problems and the struggle of the women to either catch the right man to marry or to try and find a job to make it on their own.

 

The four main characters in this book are Mac, Janey, J. Ward Moorehouse and Eleanor Stoddard. In the beginning it seems as if they are completely unrelated to each other, but by the end of the book the reader finds out how all their lives are somehow interconnected. None of the characters is really a hundred percent likeable, all are very opportunistic if only given the chance, trying to get the best for themselves out of every situation. The women use the men to lead a comfortable married life, the men use the women to have a safe bed-partner and housekeeper, and most of everyone's actions are driven by the pursuit of money. Dos Passos probably describes the motivations and struggles of early 20th century America's population very accurately.

 

The biography we liked best was the one featuring J. Ward Moorehouse, who reminded us very much of Joe Lampton, the ruthless upstart in John Braine's novel Room at the Top. The similarities are obvious, both marry for money to get on in life and both are smart men who work hard to stay on top. Of all the characters, Woodward was the one we could most relate to and understand his motivations.

 

Unfortunately, the book is only the first part of a trilogy called U.S.A., so none of the storylines really come to a conclusion here. We suppose that the other two books tell the reader more about Moorehouse and Co and it would be interesting to know how some of their lives turn out. Maybe one day we will read the rest of it, but for now we needed a break from the rather difficult read. Difficult because many parts were written in workers' class dialect and because the constant interruptions of the Newsreel and Camera Eye parts were very tedious to read. Despite this, the book is clearly a LIKE.