The Quartet
Thanks to Sanjay, here’s a George Packer review from 2005 about Dos Passos’ onetime preeminence, and his falling-out with Hemingway:
For a brief moment, Dos Passos was as big as the big man of American letters. It’s hard now to remember that, several generations ago, the trio of great novelists born around the turn of the century—Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner—was a quartet, with the fourth chair occupied by Dos Passos.
And in that group, Fitzgerald is great but outclassed.
— Sanjay · Sep 15, 02:25 PM · #
From Packer’s review:
“At one key moment in “The Breaking Point,” Dos Passos tells Hemingway, “The question I keep putting to myself is what’s the use of fighting a war for civil liberties, if you destroy civil liberties in the process?” Hemingway shoots back, “Civil liberties, shit. Are you with us or are you against us?”
The more things change…
— Steven Donegal · Sep 15, 03:02 PM · #
There’s a great book called Banvard’s Folly that says some really smart and beautiful things about canon creation and evolution.
— Freddie · Sep 15, 05:07 PM · #
Actually the immediate (and somewhat trivial) observation I have on this quartet is that in the most respected work of three of ‘em, a character who focuses fanatically on social advancement starting at a very young age: it’s interesting to think briefly on Sutpen vs. Morehead vs. Gatsby. They’re not quite comparable — Sutpen in particular is superhuman — but their stories seem to encapsulate the differences between the three writers’ approaches and inerests: Faulkner focusing on primal issues of sex and race, Dos Passos considering class and money, Fizgerald the romantic on moral decay among the socialites. Sutpen tries to conceal his background, Gatsby invents his, Morehead leverages his. And so on. It’s a fun game. I’m racking my brains trying to figure out which Hemingway character gets to play.
— Sanjay · Sep 16, 09:30 AM · #
Good question. Isn’t every Hemingway character already through with any social advancement?
— Matt Frost · Sep 16, 02:50 PM · #