The reputation of the American novelist John Roderigo Dos Passos (1896-1970) is based chiefly on his early work, especially the trilogy "U.S.A." John Dos Passos was born in Chicago on Jan. 14, 1896, the illegitimate son of a noted New York lawyer, John R...

For readers familiar with his work in the 1920s and 1930s, John Dos Passos's public image seemed clearly defined. His friends and colleagues were expatriate writers such as Ernest Hemingway, experimental dramatists such as John Howard/Lawson, and moderni...

For readers in the 1930s and 1940s the career of John Dos Passos had its puzzling aspects, but the image of the man seemed to possess a certain clarity. He was, according to the dust jackets, "Chicago-born," hence another of the mid-western realists, a r...

LONDON SCHOOLS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BARBICAN HALL LONDON "BRAVO" SHOUTED someone immediately behind me - prematurely, but speaking for us all - after a dazzling piccolo jig that would have galvanised Nelson's entire crew. Or perhaps the Black Sea Fleet....

Literacy is in a parlous state. Whether the causes lie in our educational system, the influences of the mass media, the jargon and informality of e-mail, or some other factors, I will leave to others to determine. Even as language standards decline,...