On re-reading books
I finished re-reading a book yesterday that I had been reading for the last five weeks, the USA Trilogy by John Dos Passos. It was more or less the only book I was reading during that time. (It was too big to go in my jacket pocket so I read other stuff whenever I travelled into London for a concert.) Those of you who know about my massive backlog of books may be wondering why I took time off from clearing the backlog to read something I'd already read. Well, I did last read it in 1979. A few years ago, I realised that I had all these books I'd only read once and had fond memories of many of them and wouldn't it be fun to re-read some of them, and well, why not? So usually around Christmas I chose a book from my library I want to re-read and, indeed, I started re-reading this on Christmas morning.
I chose this book because it had come back into my consciousness in the last couple of years. Then, at Eastercon last year I was on a panel about John Brunner and Arthur C. Clarke and had mentioned the book then as being a great influence on the style of Stand on Zanzibar. Shortly after that, the Hugo nominations were announce and I read the novel nominations during the summer. On of these, 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson, also uses Dos Passos's style.
For those that don't know these books, the USA trilogy comprises a number of chapters involving a number of viewpoint characters. For instance, the first few chapters involve a character called Mac a printer who gets involved in left-wing labour agitation in the early years of the twentieth century. Then the action moves to a number of other characters before Mac reappears. The other characters often appear in each others chapters, sometimes not mentioned by name and you have to guess who they are. For instance, in the last book, two of them main characters are Charley Anderson, a WWI flying ace, engineer and alcoholic and Margo Dowling, a small time actress and dancer. (It seems that many of the characters are alcoholics, especially during the period of prohibition.) A chapter involving Margo ends with her no-good gay husband stealing her money and leaving her stranded in Jacksonville whilst trying to get to an engagement in Miami. With only fifteen cents in her pocket, she goes into a diner for a cup of coffee, and that's the end of the chapter. The next chapter is Charley's. He has a flying accident and decides to leave his wife and children and go down to Miami to recuperate. He stops off for a meal in Jacksonville and overhears a woman talking to the waiter about trying to get to Miami and offers her a lift. Of course, it turns out to be Margo, and they end up in a relationship, which ends when Charley decides his car can outrun a train in getting to a level crossing.
Interspersed with these chapters are sections called Newsreels that offer snatches of headlines, news reports and lyrics of popular songs. Other sections called The Camera Eye seem to be autobiographical reminiscences by Dos Passos. And there are also biographical sketches of important people of the time: Edison, Joe Hill, Hearst, Woodrow Wilson, the Wright Brothers, etc.
(Incidentally, one of the songs quoted goes, "Close the Doors, they are Coming through the windows, Close the Windows they are Coming through the Doors, Close the Doors, they are Coming through the windows, My God, they are coming through the floor." Anyone know what this is from? I've tried googling it to no avail.)
Curiously, the use of contemporary slang (the books were published between 1930 and 1936) and the tone of speech reminds me strongly of E.E. Smith. However, the more poetic sections remind me of Walt Whitman and James Joyce.
The trilogy is (loosely) about the rise and fall of left-wing politics from the start of the century to the Wall Street Crash. (Dos Passos's politics changed over the course of his life and he ended up working for Nixon's election campaigns.) The use of multiple viewpoint characters to tell a history reminds me also of Harry Turtledove's books, especially the Southern Victory series, which covers the same time period.
I certainly enjoyed re-reading this book. There are things my sixty year old self now knows that my twenty-something year old self did not know. For instance, I don't think I would have heard of Sacco and Vanzetti back then, and even now I had to look them up in Wikipedia to find the details of their case.
Other books I want to re-read: Crime and Punishment, Moby Dick, Earthly Powers (Burgess), Orlando Furioso.
I chose this book because it had come back into my consciousness in the last couple of years. Then, at Eastercon last year I was on a panel about John Brunner and Arthur C. Clarke and had mentioned the book then as being a great influence on the style of Stand on Zanzibar. Shortly after that, the Hugo nominations were announce and I read the novel nominations during the summer. On of these, 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson, also uses Dos Passos's style.
For those that don't know these books, the USA trilogy comprises a number of chapters involving a number of viewpoint characters. For instance, the first few chapters involve a character called Mac a printer who gets involved in left-wing labour agitation in the early years of the twentieth century. Then the action moves to a number of other characters before Mac reappears. The other characters often appear in each others chapters, sometimes not mentioned by name and you have to guess who they are. For instance, in the last book, two of them main characters are Charley Anderson, a WWI flying ace, engineer and alcoholic and Margo Dowling, a small time actress and dancer. (It seems that many of the characters are alcoholics, especially during the period of prohibition.) A chapter involving Margo ends with her no-good gay husband stealing her money and leaving her stranded in Jacksonville whilst trying to get to an engagement in Miami. With only fifteen cents in her pocket, she goes into a diner for a cup of coffee, and that's the end of the chapter. The next chapter is Charley's. He has a flying accident and decides to leave his wife and children and go down to Miami to recuperate. He stops off for a meal in Jacksonville and overhears a woman talking to the waiter about trying to get to Miami and offers her a lift. Of course, it turns out to be Margo, and they end up in a relationship, which ends when Charley decides his car can outrun a train in getting to a level crossing.
Interspersed with these chapters are sections called Newsreels that offer snatches of headlines, news reports and lyrics of popular songs. Other sections called The Camera Eye seem to be autobiographical reminiscences by Dos Passos. And there are also biographical sketches of important people of the time: Edison, Joe Hill, Hearst, Woodrow Wilson, the Wright Brothers, etc.
(Incidentally, one of the songs quoted goes, "Close the Doors, they are Coming through the windows, Close the Windows they are Coming through the Doors, Close the Doors, they are Coming through the windows, My God, they are coming through the floor." Anyone know what this is from? I've tried googling it to no avail.)
Curiously, the use of contemporary slang (the books were published between 1930 and 1936) and the tone of speech reminds me strongly of E.E. Smith. However, the more poetic sections remind me of Walt Whitman and James Joyce.
The trilogy is (loosely) about the rise and fall of left-wing politics from the start of the century to the Wall Street Crash. (Dos Passos's politics changed over the course of his life and he ended up working for Nixon's election campaigns.) The use of multiple viewpoint characters to tell a history reminds me also of Harry Turtledove's books, especially the Southern Victory series, which covers the same time period.
I certainly enjoyed re-reading this book. There are things my sixty year old self now knows that my twenty-something year old self did not know. For instance, I don't think I would have heard of Sacco and Vanzetti back then, and even now I had to look them up in Wikipedia to find the details of their case.
Other books I want to re-read: Crime and Punishment, Moby Dick, Earthly Powers (Burgess), Orlando Furioso.