“No more 'n a needle in a haystack”: The City as Style and Destructive Underworld in John Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer

Abstract

This article discusses how John Dos Passos in Manhattan Transfer (1925) uses the fragmented Manhattan of the early twentieth century both as a style for writing an urban tale and as a symbol of a suffocating, all-consuming fiery inferno, where the only chance for success and redemption is by leaving. Taking its point of departure in theories on city literature and historical writings on the city of the early twentieth century, the article discusses Dos Passos' cryptic and fragmented style and links it to the portrayal of a fragmented and destructive city.