Manhattan Transfer: John Dos Passos (Penguin Modern Classics)

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Dos Passos has drawn a universe where absurdity, tragedy and fatalism reign. His focus is not on individuals. The city is a downward spiraling force bigger than the people in it. There's a lot of bleakness in Manahattan Transfer as relationships fail, people sink into poverty, and suicides take place. However, it ends on a hopeful note as Jimmy leaves the city and plans to go "pretty far." Written in 1925, it really captured the spirit of the post-war world. E’ un telecamera che zooma infilandosi tra le mura, cogliendo sguardi e raccogliendo frasi nel bel mezzo del loro accadere.

Sinclair Lewis described it as "a novel of the very first importance ... The dawn of a whole new school of writing." D. H. Lawrence called it "the best modern book about New York" he had ever read, describing it as "a very complete film ... of the vast loose gang of strivers and winners and losers which seems to be the very pep of New York." In a blurb for a European edition, Ernest Hemingway wrote that, alone among American writers, Dos Passos has "been able to show to Europeans the America they really find when they come here." [1] Plot [ edit ] In questa New York, madre abietta, spietata eppure splendida e seducente, nel cui ventre pullulano figlie e figli, schegge di vite e storie s’intersecano, si sfiorano e mai si toccano; creature in cerca della loro occasione. E un sogno: farcela.Jimmy Herf—Teenage Jimmy arrives in New York City with his wealthy mother. When she has a stroke and dies, Jimmy goes to live with the Merrivales (his mother's sister). Jimmy is a good student and the Merrivales want him to go to business school, but Jimmy is concerned about social justice and wants to become a reporter. When World War I breaks out, Jimmy enlists. During the war, Jimmy meets Ellen Thatcher in Europe, and they marry and have a son, Martin. After the war ends, Jimmy and Ellen return to New York City. Ellen quits the stage, and they live in extreme poverty. Their marriage unravels and they divorce. Jimmy quits his job as a journalist, and decides to leave New York City. His departure is the novel's conclusion. Chanson d'Amour" was featured in Are You Being Served, performed by all the staff of Grace Brothers department store in the final episode of the long running sitcom. This is a classic novel but difficult and often frustrating. I am glad I read it. The book reminded me of the place the city has had over many years in my own life and imagination. New York is an American state (like Texas, California, or Nebraska) whose capital city is Albany – hence the term New York City, which distinguishes the city from the state. New York City is also located on Manhattan Island in the Hudson River, and has always been the gateway for immigration to the United States. Manhattan Transfer reflects the rich cultural and linguistic mix of this population influx, and Dos Passos reproduces speech, patois, and accents from French, Italian, Yiddish, English, and Irish to reflect the cosmopolitan nature of the city and its culture.

Jimmy Herf’s Uncle Jeff tries to get him interested in business, but Jimmy will have none of it. He gets a job as a reporter and becomes acquainted with Ruth Prynne, a young actor who lives in the boardinghouse where Ellen and John Oglethorpe stay. Son of a wealthy businessman, Stan is a rebellious Harvard student who drinks as if there were no tomorrow. He impulsively marries a girl named Pearline and, in a drunken stupor, dies in a fire. Ed Thatcher

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New York City was, perhaps still is, defined not so much geographically as spiritually by the unfulfilled aspirations of the people who migrate to it. And those migrants historically have come as much from the American hinterland as they have from across the ocean. I capitoli introducono scene ad ampio raggio per scivolare poi tra le pieghe delle esistenze dei singoli. The novel has as its principal focus the city of New York and its development in the early years of the twentieth century, running from the period pre-1910 to the early 1920s (the ‘jazz age’) with its flappers and prohibition. Its characters are what D.H.Lawrence described as “the vast loose gang of strivers and winners and losers which seems to be the very pep of New York.” The focus is on the city rather than the story’s characters or even what they do. The characters are each one of a multitude and none do you come to know intimately. You observe from a distance the whirlwind of their lives. Do you care when something bad happens to them? No! They are a part of a group, each is simply an individual of the mass, the people of the city. I've first read this classic ages ago, and now re-read it for a scientific paper on Arbeit, a city novel that depicts contemporary life in Berlin and was inspired by "Manhattan Transfer". What I love about both novels is that they achieve to show the big city both as a moloch and a melting pot; as a a source of alienation and a place where very different people cross paths; as a shattered place that allows for connection, contention, and social mobility - in both directions. Dos Passos offers four primary characters and eight minor characters, many of them appearing and never re-appearing, thus mirroring the fast, relentless, and sometimes random nature of modern city life. The specific vibe of a city is an emergent phenomenon, driven by the contingent faiths of its inhabitants.

Bud Korpenning—Born to a farming family in upstate New York, he kills his abusive father. He takes a riverboat down the Hudson River to New York City, where he hopes to escape justice by becoming one of the anonymous millions in the city. Isolation, unemployment, poverty, and starvation take their toll on him. He becomes increasingly paranoid, believing the police to be on his trail. He commits suicide by throwing himself off a bridge. So… I guess I could use the ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ excuse… but I’m not so sure. I feel like I shouldn’t really discount myself on this one. Sometimes I just need more to work with. Nel vuoto del suo cervello una parola bifronte tintinnava come una monetina: Successo Sconfitta, Successo Sconfitta.” Yeah, so that’s really what you need to know if you, you know, want the breakdown. Of course, I need to add my own two cents. ( Of course) Each chapter is prefaced by a paragraph of what can only be described as a prose poem, which signals the theme of the chapter. The sections and chapters that follow are delivered using a combination of conventional third person narrative mode, interior monologues, shifting points of view, fragments of newspaper reports, snatches of song, encyclopaedia entries, unattributed conversation, and sometimes an absence of conventional punctuation:Which… I suppose… isn’t all that unlike living in a city… trying to remember who that person who is smiling at you in the corner market and do you really know them or is it someone that you might have seen at a friend’s apartment and it turns out that they’re actually your neighbor down the hall… Yeah, not unlike that. Manhattan Transfer fu pubblicato nel 1925, quando Dos Passos era ancora dalla parte di Sacco e Vanzetti. The terrible thing about having New York go stale on you is that there’s nowhere else to go. It’s the top of the world. All we can do is go round and round in a squirrel cage.

Manhattan Transfer is an American novel by John Dos Passos published in 1925. It focuses on the development of urban life in New York City from the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age as told through a series of overlapping individual stories. There have been several incarnations and formations of the Manhattan Transfer, with each edition having different styles, with original member Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of each of them. Harry Goldweiser—One of Ellen's friends, his advice proves critical in boosting her career throughout her life. Goldweiser's exact profession is unclear, but he seems to be a theatrical agent (although he does not represent Ellen). He later states his intention to become a producer. Ellen ruthlessly uses him, even though he believes she is a good friend. The novel tells the stories, primarily, of four people living in Manhattan from the 1890s to the late 1920s. The stories are presented in a fragmented, contrasting way, often juxtaposing them to bring out new meaning. The title of the book refers to a railway station, and the way that Manhattan itself was undergoing change. [2]

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Great Lady on a White Horse– Jimmy collects his girlfriend Ruth Prynne for Sunday lunch. He is now a cub reporter, she is an aspiring theatrical. Ellen meets George Baldwin for afternoon tea and flirts with Stan Emery and even her own husband Jojo. On a peculiar note, I have never read a book where color is used in such an effective way. At times it seems as if colors shine dimly on the story, rather like gels have been but in can lights. And the color green is forever popping up. I have no idea if it was intentional. Very odd and intriguing. An architect and a great admirer of Stanford White's, Phil Sandbourne is full of ideas for his city, including a method of easily making colored tile. A romantic and an idealist, Phil is hit by a car and severely injured when he catches the gaze of a girl passing by in a taxicab. Joe Harland