Diss. : Philosophische Fakultät : Düsseldorf : 1981. - Bibliogr. p. 242-246. -

Thesis (doctoral)--Hessische Ludwigs-Universität zu Giessen. / Bibliography: p. vi-vii.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1949. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [365]-401).

Inaugural-Dissertation Heidelberg.

No description available.

An analysis of Manhattan Transfer yields one very formidable conclusion: it is an extraordinarily contrived work of fiction that is a work of art. The novel is extraordinary because nothing quite like it had ever been done before in American literature; contrived, because it is a carefully wrought, deliberated piece of fiction. Thus Manhattan Transfer is an experimental novel in the best sense of the word. It is not the result of any kind of "spontaneous combustion," in which the author was the mere instrument to guide the pen while wrapt in the ecstatic warblings of the muse.Dos Passos believed that he had to find a form that would capture the hum and throb, the agony and the ecstasy of the modern metropolis. He wanted to represent its kaleidoscopic variety, its noise and confusion, and, above all, he wanted to show how modern man is responsible for projecting the monster in his own soul. The monster in Manhattan Transfer is New York City, conceived and built in the image of power and success. The city is a tribute to man's genius;it is also a tribute to his greed. In his desire to succeed at all costs, man has created a labyrinthine technology that he does not understand. Man finds himself going through revolving doors endlessly, finally to the point where he himself is fed through the huge modern machines, like a tapeworm devoid of any direction and sensibility.Moreover Manhattan Transfer is an altogether American novel, because it deals with the phenomenon of the mushrooming American technology with its focus on a huge metropolis. Furthermore, because it is such an innovative novel in terms of traditional fiction, it is clearly in the American stream of literature. It points both forward and backward. It takes as its departure Whitman's tremendous achievements in language experimentation. In his essay in The New Republic (October 14, 1916), Doe Passos proded future practitioners in American literature to experiment, to look back at Walt Whitman and renew his spirit of genuine individualism and gusto. He reminded American writers to look within themselves and create forms that would speak for the times that were flexible and adaptable enough to capture the American spirit. He reprimanded those writers who would follow in the European traditions of the novel without questioning their relationship to the wholly new American experience.One need not have read much Whitman to remember that he called his Leaves of Grass, in the final analysis, a "language experiment." And one need not have read far into ManhattanTransfer to realize that it is also a language experiment. Doe Passos adores language; he is intrigued by its endless manipulatability.Manhattan Transfer is also an enviable source of important knowledge about New York City during the first two decades of the twentieth century. What was it like to live there prior to the first world war? What were the peculiar anxieties, hopes, and dreams, of the people who lived there when it was growing so rapidly into the complex metropolitan center it is today? Almost on every page one can both feel and sense the emerging bigness. The city was becoming cosmopolitan, chaotic, dazzling, and needless to say, frustratingly awesome.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1981. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 234-240).

No description available.

Les premiers romans de John Dos Passos s’inscrivent dans le courant moderniste et sont caractérisés par une organisation originale des mots sur la page. Le texte n’est pas un bloc monolothique mais il est découpé en sections et ponctué d’épigraphes. Il contient également une multitude de collages présentés dans des styles et des polices variés. Cette observation est le point de départ de cette étude qui propose d’analyser la matérialité du texte dans les premiers romans de John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer et la trilogie USA, publiés entre 1925 et 1938. Ces ouvrages interrogent le regard du lecteur sur le texte, en montrant ce qui est placé devant, autour de l’oeil de celui qui regarde. Ils invitent le lecteur à prendre conscience de ce qui influence sa vision. Le roman exhibe son armature et ses divers seuils, laissant soin à celui qui lit de poursuivre ou non sa lecture, de revenir en arrière et de faire les liens entre les différentes zones de texte. Le roman expose son mode de fabrication, soulignant qu’il est le produit d’un réagencement de textes antérieurs. Cette armature visible est autant faite de pleins que de vides et reflète la tension entre l’ambition de tout dire, tout contenir et la reconnaissance de la difficulté même de raconter. Le jeu avec les espaces blancs, la ponctuation et les indications phonétiques renforcent la dimension écrite du texte tout en essayant de de le faire sortir hors de la page et de résister à toute clôture. / The early novels of John Dos Passos are part of the modernist literary movement. They are characterized by an original organization of the words on the page. The text is no longer a monolithic block, but is divided into sections and its separations are highlighted by a vast paratext. It also contains a variety of collages presented in various styles and in different fonts. These observations are the starting point of this research, which focuses on the materiality of the text in the early novels of John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer and the trilogy USA, published between 1925 and 1938. These novels question the gaze of the reader on the text, showing what is placed in front of and around the eye of the observer. The reader becomes aware of what influences his vision. The novel displays its internal structure and various thresholds, allowing the reader to continue or to stop reading, to go backwards and to create connections between the different sections of the text. The novel displays how it has been constructed, highlighting that it is the product of the rearrangement of previous texts. This visible internal structure is also built out of gaps and empty spaces. It reflects the tension between the ambition to be exhaustive, to contain everything and to acknowledge the difficulty to tell a story. The interplay with the blank space on the page, the use of punctuation and phonetic indicators reinforce the written aspect of the text, while at the same time making the words stand off the page and resistant to closure.

Thesis (M.A.), English--University of Central Oklahoma, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-91).