A Introduction To Hemingway's Fictionn; A Introduction To John Dos Passos' Fiction

Alfred Kazin, noted writer and scholar, is the lecturer for an introduction to Ernest Hemingway's fiction. Kazin discusses Hemingway's upbringing, influences on his writing, and personal growth and eventual decline as a major writer. This "victim of fame""...transformed English into a wholly sensory language" that was immediate and direct. In the famous Nick Adams stories of the twenties, and the early novels (The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and, a bit later, For Whom the Bell Tolls), Hemingway hammered out an entirely new literature, unlike-in its precise sparseness-anything that had gone before, and the model for many writers to follow. In talking about Hemingway's views on war, writing, and fame, Kazin (who delivers a perfect lecture off the top of his head, without missing a beat), demonstrates to viewers why Hemingway is one of the truly great and tragic figures of the 20th century. In An Introduction to the Fiction of John Dos Passos, biographer and scholar Townsend Ludington focuses on Dos Passos' early upbringing (his parents were unmarried, and he spent a lot of time in Europe living a "hotel childhood") as a means of understanding the alienation that runs throughout the Dos Passos canon. After working with the Red Cross in Europe (as, incidentally, did Hemingway), Dos Passos wrote three major works: Three Soldiers (1921), Manhattan Transfer (1925), and his masterpiece, the USA. trilogy (completed 1938). Ludington reads excerpts from these works to show what a superb satirist Dos Passos was in his early years (later, although he continued to turn out a prolific amount of writing, he became a Goldwater Republican-and his work lost its fire.) Both of these programs are excellent, though the Hemingway would be more likely in demand. Recommended for libraries and schools with large literature collections. (Available from: Baker & Taylor, 8140 N. Lehigh Ave., Morton Grove, IL 60053.)