'The work of a generation'

 

If there is a special ‘Hell’ for writers it would probably be the forced contemplation of their own works.” – John Dos Passos

 

Born in Chicago on this date in 1896, Dos Passos’ wrote one of the 20th Century's greatest Trilogies about issues of social justice even though he was a member of what today would be called “The 1%.”  

 

Well-educated (private schools and a university degree from Harvard) and well-traveled, he also studied in Europe and the Middle East, where he learned about literature, art and architecture, life experiences balanced by time served as an ambulance driver during World War I.  Both shaped his views and his writing about “fairness and justice.” 

 

Prolific author and gifted artist (he did covers for Life magazine, for example) his USA Trilogy – The 42^nd Parallel; 1919; and The Big Money – is rated in the top 25 of The100 Best English Language series of novels written in the 20^th Century.

 

Near the end of his long life – he died at age 84 in 1970 – Dos Passos reflected on his life’s work and said: “The creation of a world view is the work of a generation rather than of an individual, but we, each of us, for better or worse, add our brick to the edifice.”