John Dos Passos and Cinema

The book features previously unpublishedmanuscripts and correspondence illustrating case studies of John Dos Passos' screen writingfor Paramount Pictures (1934); his role in writing and filming The Spanish Earth (1937), a SpanishCivil War relief project whose circumstances culminated in his public breakfrom the Left; the 1936 screen treatment he wrote just before The Spanish Earth in consultation withits director, Joris Ivens; and his later-career attempts, beginning in the1940s, to adapt his radically innovative trilogy U.S.A. directly for the screen and to realign its leftist politicstoward the anti-Communist conservatism reflected in his work and activism afterthe 1930s and the disillusionments of the Spanish Civil War. It thus provides anew context for and reading of his political reorientation in the 1930s thatnot only ended his long friendship with Ernest Hemingway but also evoked theopprobrium of his former champions on the Left and redefined his literarycareer.