John Dos Passos The 42nd Parallel(The U.S.A. Trilogy #1)-北纬四十二度

《美国》三部曲规模宏大，全景式地展现了美国20世纪前三十年的社会变迁。在《美国》三部曲中，帕索斯使用“群像小说”的写法，集中描写了各个阶层的十二个人物，故事相对独立，各自成章，偶有交集。帕索斯还运用了较多实验性技巧，加入“新闻短片”“摄影机眼”“人物小传”，来更加立体地表现当时复杂的历史背景和社会状况。“新闻短片”由当时的报纸标题、流行歌曲、官方文件等摘录组成，点出时代背景；“摄影机眼”用意识流手法描写作者当时的心情及活动；“人物特写”为摩根、福特、爱迪生、邓肯、威尔逊总统等风云人物立传。小说语言简洁生动，幽默、反讽和戏仿随处可见。

《美国》三部曲是一部民族史诗。

书名：The 42nd Parallel(The U.S.A. Trilogy #1)《北纬四十二度》

作者：John Dos Passos

简介：With his U.S.A. trilogy, comprising THE 42nd PARALLEL, 1919, and THE BIG MONEY, John Dos Passos is said by many to have written the great American novel. While Fitzgerald and Hemingway were cultivating what Edmund Wilson once called their "own little corners," John Dos Passos was taking on the world. Counted as one of the best novels of the twentieth century by the Modern Library and by some of the finest writers working today, U.S.A. is a grand, kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation, buzzing with history and life on every page.

The trilogy opens with THE 42nd PARALLEL, where we find a young country at the dawn of the twentieth century. Slowly, in stories artfully spliced together, the lives and fortunes of five characters unfold. Mac, Janey, Eleanor, Ward, and Charley are caught on the storm track of this parallel and blown New Yorkward. As their lives cross and double back again, the likes of Eugene Debs, Thomas Edison, and Andrew Carnegie make cameo appearances.