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Tre romanzi americani del 1925

Abstract

The simultaneous apparition in 1925 of such different works as Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer is the starting point for a contrastive analysis within the more general issue of the relationship between America and Modernism. Dreiser's omniscient author, Fitzgerald's Jamesian "reflector" and Dos Passos' ellipses and collages are obviously quite different narrative strategies. However, the three novels do share common themes and techniques—from the relevance of glance and other visual elements to the cinematic montage to the creation of a "scapegoat-hero": in different ways, they may be seen as following (ante litteram) Roland Barthes' prescription for modern poetry and prose, that is, not to express what could be easily expressed.