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Most Likely to Succeed
Os colegas de Universidade de Jed Morris consideravam-no "o mais fadado para vencer". Era brilhante e talentoso, fora bafejado pela ambição idealista e impulsionadora que na década de 1920 se tinha por essencial a todos os jovens americanos.
E Jed venceu, de facto. Escreveu uma peça que obteve êxito, Hollywood acenou-lhe e transformou-o num «menino bonito». Conquistava todas as mulheres que lhe apetecia e teve, até, a sorte de conseguir o amor de que precisava. - ou pelo menos assim pensou. Teria sido grande se soubesse ver co maior clareza, mas no caso de Jed o «sonho americano» redundou em desilusão.
Durante a sua escalada pelo caminho do êxito e da fama ligou-se a uma filosofia de vida destrutiva, que lhe arrancou da alma o sentimento de humanidade. Nem no ambiente intelectualmente estimulante de Greenwich Village, nem na calma do Cabo Cod, nem no deslumbramento de Hollywood soube encontrar verdadeiros valores.
Esta é a história de um homem incompleto, escarnecido pelos próprios ideais que proclamava e desvirtuado pelo egoísmo; a história profundamente dolorosa de um individuo que não só se destruiu a si próprio, como também arrastou para a ruína aqueles que ajudara a tornar vítimas de uma falsa doutrina.
Com penetrante observação e sincero interesse, John dos Passos, um dos maiores escritores americanos contemporâneos, sonda e disseca os factores que transformaram muitos «Jeds» em cidadãos
desencaminhados e destruidores, que pretendem modificar um meio de vida que, afinal, os beneficia.
E Jed venceu, de facto. Escreveu uma peça que obteve êxito, Hollywood acenou-lhe e transformou-o num «menino bonito». Conquistava todas as mulheres que lhe apetecia e teve, até, a sorte de conseguir o amor de que precisava. - ou pelo menos assim pensou. Teria sido grande se soubesse ver co maior clareza, mas no caso de Jed o «sonho americano» redundou em desilusão.
Durante a sua escalada pelo caminho do êxito e da fama ligou-se a uma filosofia de vida destrutiva, que lhe arrancou da alma o sentimento de humanidade. Nem no ambiente intelectualmente estimulante de Greenwich Village, nem na calma do Cabo Cod, nem no deslumbramento de Hollywood soube encontrar verdadeiros valores.
Esta é a história de um homem incompleto, escarnecido pelos próprios ideais que proclamava e desvirtuado pelo egoísmo; a história profundamente dolorosa de um individuo que não só se destruiu a si próprio, como também arrastou para a ruína aqueles que ajudara a tornar vítimas de uma falsa doutrina.
Com penetrante observação e sincero interesse, John dos Passos, um dos maiores escritores americanos contemporâneos, sonda e disseca os factores que transformaram muitos «Jeds» em cidadãos
desencaminhados e destruidores, que pretendem modificar um meio de vida que, afinal, os beneficia.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
29 people want to read
About the author
John Dos Passos
218 books592 followersJohn Dos Passos was a prominent American novelist, artist, and political thinker best known for his U.S.A. trilogy—The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money—a groundbreaking work of modernist fiction that employed experimental narrative techniques to depict the complexities of early 20th-century American life. Born in Chicago in 1896, he was educated at Harvard and served as an ambulance driver during World War I, experiences that deeply influenced his early literary themes. His first novel, One Man’s Initiation: 1917, and the antiwar Three Soldiers drew on his wartime observations and marked him as a major voice among the Lost Generation.
Dos Passos’s 1925 novel Manhattan Transfer brought him widespread recognition and introduced stylistic innovations that would define his later work. His U.S.A. trilogy fused fiction, biography, newsreel-style reportage, and autobiographical “Camera Eye” sections to explore the impact of capitalism, war, and political disillusionment on the American psyche. Once aligned with leftist politics, Dos Passos grew increasingly disillusioned with Communism, especially after the murder of his friend José Robles during the Spanish Civil War—a turning point that led to a break with Ernest Hemingway and a sharp turn toward conservatism.
Throughout his career, Dos Passos remained politically engaged, writing essays, journalism, and historical studies while also campaigning for right-leaning figures like Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon in the 1960s. He contributed to publications such as American Heritage, National Review, and The Freeman, and published over forty books including biographies and historical reflections. Despite political shifts, his commitment to liberty and skepticism of authoritarianism remained central themes.
Also a visual artist, Dos Passos created cover art and illustrations for many of his own books, exhibiting a style influenced by modernist European art. Though less acclaimed for his painting, he remained artistically active throughout his life. His multidisciplinary approach and innovations in narrative structure influenced numerous writers and filmmakers, from Jean-Paul Sartre to Norman Mailer and Adam Curtis.
Later recognized with the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize for literature in 1967, Dos Passos’s legacy endures through his literary innovations and sharp commentary on American identity. He died in 1970, leaving behind a vast and diverse body of work that continues to shape the landscape of American fiction.
Dos Passos’s 1925 novel Manhattan Transfer brought him widespread recognition and introduced stylistic innovations that would define his later work. His U.S.A. trilogy fused fiction, biography, newsreel-style reportage, and autobiographical “Camera Eye” sections to explore the impact of capitalism, war, and political disillusionment on the American psyche. Once aligned with leftist politics, Dos Passos grew increasingly disillusioned with Communism, especially after the murder of his friend José Robles during the Spanish Civil War—a turning point that led to a break with Ernest Hemingway and a sharp turn toward conservatism.
Throughout his career, Dos Passos remained politically engaged, writing essays, journalism, and historical studies while also campaigning for right-leaning figures like Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon in the 1960s. He contributed to publications such as American Heritage, National Review, and The Freeman, and published over forty books including biographies and historical reflections. Despite political shifts, his commitment to liberty and skepticism of authoritarianism remained central themes.
Also a visual artist, Dos Passos created cover art and illustrations for many of his own books, exhibiting a style influenced by modernist European art. Though less acclaimed for his painting, he remained artistically active throughout his life. His multidisciplinary approach and innovations in narrative structure influenced numerous writers and filmmakers, from Jean-Paul Sartre to Norman Mailer and Adam Curtis.
Later recognized with the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize for literature in 1967, Dos Passos’s legacy endures through his literary innovations and sharp commentary on American identity. He died in 1970, leaving behind a vast and diverse body of work that continues to shape the landscape of American fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 3, 2025
At this moment, there are only two reviews for this book so I feel compelled to add one more. Dos Passos is one of the writers whose work I've tasked myself to read in its entirety. But so far, this is only the third book on this quest, and I have not yet touched his reputedly great 'USA Trilogy'.
This work concerns an aspiring, driven writer, Jed Morris, as he stumbles through a number of love affairs, and writing positions, first in the New York theatre scene and later, with some success, for the California movie industry.
Dos Passos style of prose, bearing a strong narrative structure, but diving into minutiae to provide clear pictures of events, is compelling. The style is almost more like a play, moving from detailed scene to scene with little in the way of transition, and not minding gaps in the story line. The subject matter, a chronicle of Jed's life, is not heroic, not particularly eventful, occasionally melodramatic and, I would judge, describes a fairly uninteresting life led by an impulsive and indecisive protaganist. I was not surprised that Jed packed on a lot of weight as the years went by.
What is interesting is the socio-historical context of the book. Against the broad events of the 1930s and 1940s, Jed flirts with the ideas of Communism and interacts with, but never fully buys into, the advocacy efforts of an American Communist cell.
The book was written and released during the McCarthy era, but is not in the least way a commentary on McCarthy-ism. It is a commentary on American Communism though. The narrative that is most common today concerning McCarthyism, converging toward general acceptance, is that McCarthy was a power hungry ideologue who sought to destroy Hollywood writers and actors who had once had Communist or socialist sympathies in their youth. A trenchant, recent example is the portrayal of the Establishment's negative and oppressive reaction to Robert Oppenheimer's past Communist sympathies in the recent movie on his life.
This novel presents an alternate narrative, in contrast to the more accepted one, and this adds a level of intrigue to what would otherwise be a dreary tale. It's not a McCarthy style witch hunt that dehumanizes and (spoiler removed) Morris. Rather, it's the Communist cell of which Morris is a member that is continually at odds with his better instincts, which lie toward building a prosperous and happy life, for himself, his daughter and his more genuine friends.
The book also demonstrates how the American public attitude toward Russia changed from the days fo the revolution, through Stalin and then the war. Stalin joining with the fascist Hitler was difficult for American Communists to accept, but that all changed when Hitler marched on Russia, and changed again with Pearl Harbour, and again, when the war ended and the Iron Curtain came down.
Dos Passos does not delve deeply into Morris's psychological motivation for sympathizing with Communism. It appeared to come somewhat out of a genuine sympathy for the working class and especially, immigrant workers, but also was due to his contrary nature.
I gave this 4 stars - a flawed but ultimately, interesting work, especially for anyone interested in contemporary American history. I like the other two Dos Passos works I have read better than this one.
This work concerns an aspiring, driven writer, Jed Morris, as he stumbles through a number of love affairs, and writing positions, first in the New York theatre scene and later, with some success, for the California movie industry.
Dos Passos style of prose, bearing a strong narrative structure, but diving into minutiae to provide clear pictures of events, is compelling. The style is almost more like a play, moving from detailed scene to scene with little in the way of transition, and not minding gaps in the story line. The subject matter, a chronicle of Jed's life, is not heroic, not particularly eventful, occasionally melodramatic and, I would judge, describes a fairly uninteresting life led by an impulsive and indecisive protaganist. I was not surprised that Jed packed on a lot of weight as the years went by.
What is interesting is the socio-historical context of the book. Against the broad events of the 1930s and 1940s, Jed flirts with the ideas of Communism and interacts with, but never fully buys into, the advocacy efforts of an American Communist cell.
The book was written and released during the McCarthy era, but is not in the least way a commentary on McCarthy-ism. It is a commentary on American Communism though. The narrative that is most common today concerning McCarthyism, converging toward general acceptance, is that McCarthy was a power hungry ideologue who sought to destroy Hollywood writers and actors who had once had Communist or socialist sympathies in their youth. A trenchant, recent example is the portrayal of the Establishment's negative and oppressive reaction to Robert Oppenheimer's past Communist sympathies in the recent movie on his life.
This novel presents an alternate narrative, in contrast to the more accepted one, and this adds a level of intrigue to what would otherwise be a dreary tale. It's not a McCarthy style witch hunt that dehumanizes and (spoiler removed) Morris. Rather, it's the Communist cell of which Morris is a member that is continually at odds with his better instincts, which lie toward building a prosperous and happy life, for himself, his daughter and his more genuine friends.
The book also demonstrates how the American public attitude toward Russia changed from the days fo the revolution, through Stalin and then the war. Stalin joining with the fascist Hitler was difficult for American Communists to accept, but that all changed when Hitler marched on Russia, and changed again with Pearl Harbour, and again, when the war ended and the Iron Curtain came down.
Dos Passos does not delve deeply into Morris's psychological motivation for sympathizing with Communism. It appeared to come somewhat out of a genuine sympathy for the working class and especially, immigrant workers, but also was due to his contrary nature.
I gave this 4 stars - a flawed but ultimately, interesting work, especially for anyone interested in contemporary American history. I like the other two Dos Passos works I have read better than this one.
July 20, 2024
I couldn’t get invested in Jed and his plays and his women. It seemed very stale and uninteresting. There’s a chance it gets better later but if so it’s taking a listless path to get there.
DNF @57/317
DNF @57/317
July 16, 2016
Just couldn't get into this book and didn't even finish it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews