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A review by litdoes
Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
4.0
Published in the 1920s, this cinematic novel was one of the first literary works of that era to revolutionise the use of the montage and collage technique as it follows a revolving door of characters as they live out their lives in New York.
Modernist in the way the lives of individuals are ellipted as the reader glimpses little pastiches and move on, filling the gaps as he negotiates street corners, back alleys and high society cafes with the cast, the novel seems to present a composite picture of the bustling city rather than any one character.
Success and failure is very much a concern with the disparate cast, as each one tries to find his or her place in society, whether it is as an actress, or a lawyer in search of a ground-breaking case. The one character, Stan Emery, who questions this overwhelming concern, claiming that “I’ll like to meet somebody who wanted to fail. That’s the only sublime thing,” does not quite survive the chaos he makes out of his life, while survivors either change like a chameleon to adapt, like Ellen, who becomes Elaine and then Helena, at different stages of her life, or opt out of the city entirely, like what Jimmy Herf does.
In an urban, cosmopolitan city, where anonymity is the new norm for the waves of immigrants from their rural communities, modes of social relationships also become more distant. There is a sense of spectacle when one witnesses an act of arson by a “firebug”. The reader follows the camera eye of the narrative as it scans the crowds and views the whole catastrophe from a position first from a higher and more distant position, and then as one in the crowd, but never getting close enough to feel the heat.
Modernist in the way the lives of individuals are ellipted as the reader glimpses little pastiches and move on, filling the gaps as he negotiates street corners, back alleys and high society cafes with the cast, the novel seems to present a composite picture of the bustling city rather than any one character.
Success and failure is very much a concern with the disparate cast, as each one tries to find his or her place in society, whether it is as an actress, or a lawyer in search of a ground-breaking case. The one character, Stan Emery, who questions this overwhelming concern, claiming that “I’ll like to meet somebody who wanted to fail. That’s the only sublime thing,” does not quite survive the chaos he makes out of his life, while survivors either change like a chameleon to adapt, like Ellen, who becomes Elaine and then Helena, at different stages of her life, or opt out of the city entirely, like what Jimmy Herf does.
In an urban, cosmopolitan city, where anonymity is the new norm for the waves of immigrants from their rural communities, modes of social relationships also become more distant. There is a sense of spectacle when one witnesses an act of arson by a “firebug”. The reader follows the camera eye of the narrative as it scans the crowds and views the whole catastrophe from a position first from a higher and more distant position, and then as one in the crowd, but never getting close enough to feel the heat.