John Dos Passos was a prominent American writer who published nearly fifty books over the course of the twentieth century. An alumnus of Harvard University who served as an ambulance driver in World War I and as a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, Dos Passos wrote novels, histories, reportage, travelogues, editorials, plays, and poetry in a career that spanned seven decades and most of the globe. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters famously anointed as “the greatest writer of our time” by Jean-Paul Sartre, today Dos Passos is chiefly remembered as the author of innovative modernist novels such as

Manhattan Transfer

(1925) and the epic

U.S.A.

trilogy (1938).

John Roderigo Madison was born to Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison and John Randolph

3337 words

Citation: Stratton, Matthew. "John Dos Passos". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 December 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1291, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1291 John Dos Passos 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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