John Dos Passos Revisited explores the entire career of this important writer, placing him in the historical context of the times which shaped his work, and addressing the artistic and political controversies that his own work sparked. Lisa Nanney seeks in the political flux of early twentieth-century America and its dynamic interchange among the arts for the sources of the narrative forms with which Dos Passos created a new modernist language.

Nanney uses little-known sources such as apprentice fiction and poetry, letters and essays that reveal the impact of his friendships with important writers and painters of his day, and previously untapped sources such as the paintings and sketches Dos Passos executed throughout his lifetime to provide fresh insights into his career. Incorporating recent scholarship, this book is the first to view Dos Passos's aesthetic development as a modernist in light of the visual arts and his own body of painting.

The quintessential introduction to a one-of-a-kind figure in American literature, John Dos Passos Revisited will be appreciated by both scholars and students of literature, art, and American studies.