is a fitting conclusion to John Dos Passos’s trilogy of disillusionment,
District of Columbia,at once more innovative and more despairing than the other two components. During the next decade Dos Passos would concentrate on historical and autobiographical writing; his two novels from that time (
Chosen Country, 1951 and
Most Likely to Succeed, 1954) would be a substantial decline artistically.
The Grand Designis less balanced in tone than the
U.S.A.trilogy because Dos Passos has fallen victim to a tendency that is nearly inevitable for political satirists. He has begun to see politics as uniformly good and evil; his characters cease to be multi-dimensional, or real people who happen to practice politics. Now they tend to be one-dimensional political figures; moreover,…
2902 words
Citation: Dougherty, David C.. "The Grand Design". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 November 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=708, accessed 13 October 2024.]