A whole lot of people, from varying financial circumstances, experience life in New York City in the early 20th century. I do not have the patience to read a book slowly, or to take notes as I go, but that is really what is required here. There are so many characters that note taking is definitely called for. However, I just soldiered on and decided that the chaotic nature of the book was meant to reflect life in NYC in the 1920s. The author’s descriptions of people and events were vivid and precise. He must have spent a lot of time observing people. It was particularly striking the way some very tragic events were written without any melodrama and immediately segued into something banal. It felt like a quick slap in the face. I am not the right audience for this book, but I did enjoy it.

«Questo non è forse il paese delle occasioni?»

Per cercare di dare un parametro a chi volesse leggere il libro, scriverò che l’Ulysses di Joyce è, fra i libri che ho letto, quello più simile a Manhattan Transfer, pur con significativi distinguo. I due libri hanno in comune la frammentarietà di una trama assai difficile da seguire, fatta di balzi temporali e narrativi, ma mentre Joyce procede preferibilmente per flusso di coscienza, Dos Passos si affida ad una scrittura molto fisica. New York è uno dei personaggi principali del romanzo, per descriverla lo scrittore ricorre spesso a sensazioni visive, uditive e a sorpresa olfattive. New York sa di terra umida, segatura fresca, grasso riscaldato, vernice calda, caffè, pane abbrustolito, benzina, asfalto, fogliame polveroso, erba pesta, mattoni inzuppati, gesso, pane muffito, salmastro, sonno.. New York è leggendaria

In principio erano Babilonia e Ninive: ed erano costruite in mattoni. Atene era tutta colonne di marmo e oro. Roma posava su grandi archi di tufo. A Costantinopoli i minareti fiammeggiano come grandi ceri intorno al Corno d’Oro… Acciaio, vetro, tegole, cemento saranno i materiali del grattacielo. Stipati sull’isola angusta, gli edifici dalle migliaia di finestre si drizzeranno splendenti, piramidi su piramidi, simili a cime di nuvole bianche al disopra degli uragani.

L’incubazione di questa lettura parte da molto lontano, nasce da un’intervista a Sergio Leone

Che cos’è C’era una volta in America?
E’ un omaggio alle cose che ho sempre amato, e in particolare alla letteratura americana di Chandler, Hammett(*1), Dos Passos, Hemingway, Fitzgerald. Personaggi che, quando li ho conosciuti, erano proibiti in Italia. Li ho letti in clandestinità ai tempi del fascismo, e come tutte le cose proibite hanno assunto un significato anche superiore alla loro importanza effettiva..

Nel libro però non ho riconosciuto l’America del film, molte delle vicende sono precedenti, Dos Passos ambienta dal primo 900 agli anni ’20. Il racconto di Leone ispirato da Harry Grey inizia quando quello di Dos Passos sta per terminare. Non è stata una lettura semplice, il romanzo è post modernista ante litteram, ciò che mi ha spinto ad andare avanti sono stati i passi dedicati a New York, una città che ho snobbato per molti anni e che poi ha finito per ammaliarmi.

«Per me questa è una città piena di gente che desidera cose inconcepibili. Guardatevi intorno…» «Certo, di notte è bellissimo; quando non si può più discernere nulla. Del resto, non un briciolo di senso artistico, non un bel monumento, non atmosfera storica: ecco New York».



All’attrazione che ha esercitato sempre più forte nei miei confronti non è estranea la ferita mortale che le è stata inferta nel 2001, anzi, forse è stato proprio da quel momento che ho iniziato a subirne il fascino. Nell’introduzione alla mia edizione c’è un passaggio che recita:

E oggi che, dopo l’11 settembre, New York, con la sua mastodontica fragilità ma, insieme, con la sua potenza palingenetica sembra assurgere a simbolo di un Occidente sconvolto e aperto alle più dialettiche risoluzioni, rileggere Manhattan Transfer significa non solo recuperare un controverso scrittore, ma anche riscoprire la magia di una città–mondo che da oltre un secolo attrae e respinge, incanta e impaura.

Incanto e paura erano proprio i sentimenti che nutrivo prima di visitarla, adesso mi rimane l’incanto che mi ha dato la spinta decisiva a leggere Manhattan Transfer, che fa dire ad uno dei personaggi, già negli anni venti del secolo scorso

Ciò che c’è di più tremendo a New York è che quando ne avete fin sopra i capelli, non sapete più in quale altro posto andare. È il tetto del mondo. La sola cosa che ci rimane è girare e girare come lo scoiattolo in gabbia.

Colonna sonora
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqS-t...
In My Harem Medley 1913 / Irving Berlin

(*1)
Di questa lista mi rimane da leggere solo lui

This novel was John Dos Passos first experience in the style of stocatto news bites for his narrative, a technique that he perfected in his USA Trilogy (U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel / 1919 / The Big Money. It is a kaleidoscopic view of life in Manhattan at the turn of the last century. Cars have just become common, Prohibition comes into effect, Wall Street hasn't crashed yet. Anti-Semitism and racism pop up from time to time. The story mostly revolves around about eight major characters who at some point cross paths, two (arguably three) commit suicide, all are pretty much alcoholic and mostly out of control. It is a rollercoaster ride for the reader constantly shifting perspectives. As for a reading experience, it is refreshing and relatively fast-moving, perhaps less-so than 42 Parallel which I started just after this one. Another quirk of Dos Passos is mashing together subsequent interestingadjectives and occasionally relatedverbs into singlewords. That aspect can be jarring sometimes, but I think it accelerates the read as you feel like the pace of life in New York is so fast that there isn't even time to use the spacebar.
Highly recommended for a view into life in NYC a century ago. An American classic.

The ferry-slip. A ferry, and a newborn baby. A young man comes to the metropolis and the story begins. It is a story of that metropolis: "The world's second metropolis." But it is really the latest in a line that extends backward in time to "Nineveh . . Athens . . . Rome . . . Constantinople . ." and others since.

John Dos Passos presents stories of some of the people who call this metropolis, Manhattan, home near the beginning of the twentieth century. The novel is about New Yorkers and their stories -- numerous characters whose commonality is only their status as New Yorkers brought them together, impersonally and randomly. He does so with an engaging style that encompasses the sights, sounds, feelings, and excitement encountered by those who peopled this island metropolis. Each chapter begins with passages comprising observations of city life, newspaper headlines, bits and pieces of dialogue, and phrases from advertisements. All these passages emphasize that "Manhattan Transfer" is a collective novel about the city of New York, about its shallowness, immorality, and grinds of the urban life. The characters' lives only depict some of them.

There are the dreams of new parents whose daughter, Ellen, is born at the opening of the novel. Her life and career will be one of two that span the course of the novel. But there are also young lovers, young men, down-and-outers, immigrants, swells, and others on the make with little but their dreams to keep them going. Some stories are about dreams shattered or those whose lives are stillborn,limited by poverty or lack of vision. The angry rebels are present as well -- those found on the street corner protesting for better treatment, better pay, or mimicking the ideas of radicals and anarchists of the day.

Among the many stories some stand out. One of the most successful inhabitants of Dos Passos's Manhattan is Congo Jake starts out as a peglegged sailor and ends up as a wealthy New Yorker with a new name, Armand Duval, an attractive wife and more money than he knows what to do with. On the other extreme, we encounter Joe Harland, the Wizard of Wall Street, who makes a killing in the stock market and loses it all, but attributes his change of luck to the loss of a crocheted blue silk necktie that his mother had given him when he was a youngster. Then there is James Merivale who is born to wealth and a prosperous future and the family man Ed Thatcher with his wife and newborn daughter Ellen (mentioned above). There is also the other character whose story will span the novel, Jimmy Herf, whose path will cross that of Ellen. Jimmy Herf works with the "Times" in a job that he finds unfulfilling eventually leaving this job. Jimmy's search for his dream will form another arc that provides a link for all the stories bringing the reader ultimately back to the ferry with which the book began. This arc is not unfamiliar in the sense it is similar to the arc of young Nicholas Rostov in War and Peace and many other young men since.

Dos Passos' style is mesmerizing and fits perfectly with the story he tells. The characters form a mosaic that blends with the sights and sounds of Manhattan to create a world that is alive with all the possibilities, both successes and defeats, that humanity may experience. Upon its publication, Sinclair Lewis seemed to anticipate this development, praising Manhattan Transfer as "a novel of the very first importance" and predicting that it could represent "the foundation of a whole new school of novel-writing." While British novelist D. H. Lawrence wrote Manhattan Transfer is "the best modern book about New York" because it "becomes what life is, a stream of different things and different faces rushing along in the consciousness, with no apparent direction save that of time".
The historical references include discussion of the "bonus marchers" of veterans requesting their military bonuses, references to Sarajevo, and other events; all of which provide a background that provides context for these peoples' lives. I found this book an exciting read that gripped my attention and did not let it go. I would highly recommend this modern classic.

I've first read this classic ages ago, and now re-read it for a scientific paper on Arbeit, a city novel that depicts contemporary life in Berlin and was inspired by "Manhattan Transfer". What I love about both novels is that they achieve to show the big city both as a moloch and a melting pot; as a a source of alienation and a place where very different people cross paths; as a shattered place that allows for connection, contention, and social mobility - in both directions. Dos Passos offers four primary characters and eight minor characters, many of them appearing and never re-appearing, thus mirroring the fast, relentless, and sometimes random nature of modern city life. The specific vibe of a city is an emergent phenomenon, driven by the contingent faiths of its inhabitants.

Using the technique of the camera eye, Dos Passos allows the reader to dive into different lives full of dreams and aspirations - only to cut away and cut back, creating a narrative mosaic of New York City from the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age. The author was inspired by Ulysses, and "Manhattan Transfer" is a challenging read as well - while the singular stories are easy to follow, the reader needs concentration and dedication when trying to encompass the overall aesthetic concept of this novel. Much like in the case of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (about Paris at the turn of the century) though, tackling this task is well worth it, as it shows a city in a way it hasn't been depicted before.

And I really hope that Arbeit ("Work") will get a translation - its author focuses on the overlooked working class of the night and offers a completely new look at Berlin, a city that has been captured in literature countless times. It's the power of a good city novel that it achieves to show a specific place at a specific time, thus displaying what the people experienced, felt, and wished for. Dos Passos was one of the writers who paved the way. Now on to Berlin Alexanderplatz.

I just read Kern's The Modernist Novel -- and so this was like an exemplum of almost every Modernist characteristic (formal and otherwise) that Kern enumerates (in a simpler key than, say, Ulysses). So in that sense, this book was a perfect follow-up.

It's also a fabulous piece of writing. Loved it.

Attraverso pungenti e ironici spezzoni di esistenza, come fotogrammi cinematografici chiusi in sé eppure aperti alla storia, che si intersecano incastrandosi e sovrapponendosi finemente, si delinea una New York di inizio '900 che raggiunge vette estreme di contraddizioni e opposti.
C'è la New York assolutamente ricca e quella assolutamente povera piuttosto che la New York totalmente corrotta e quella tristemente vittima.
Un gran bel libro.

Manhattan Transfer
John Dos Passos
Traduzione: Alessandra Scalero
Editore: edizione speciale per La Repubblica
Pag: 380
Voto: 4/5

È un romanzo ricco di immagini, colori, odori, profumi e sfumature, pieno di personaggi importanti e non, ambientato a New York negli anni immediatamente precedenti la prima guerra mondiale. È come se fosse un quadro impressionista dove l'importante non è il dettaglio ma la visione d'insieme. Così se si incontra un nuovo personaggio, si segue la sua giornata, il suo momento e poi lo si perde di vista non importa...leggere questo romanzo è come salire su un autobus e fare il giro della città, origliare i frammenti di conversazione tra i passeggeri, seguire per un poco i passanti, spiare dentro le finestre e condividere piccoli sprazzi di vita ottenendo così per sommatoria la storia di questa caleidoscopica città.
Vale la pena leggerlo solo per come è scritto.

This is one of those books that seem to improve with age - I've read it before, but it comes up as very modern each time. It's a very cinematic book, and illuminating on many levels. Dos Passos was a genius and his books bear this opinion out.

Grzebiąc w suchej trawie pomiędzy liśćmi łopuchu pan Perry poruszył coś końcem laski. Schylił się i podniósł trójkątną czaskę ozdobioną parą zakręconych spiralnie rogów.

Zawsze miałam taką nadzieję, że "Manhattan Transfer" będzie jedną z najlepszych książek, które przeczytam; wyczuwałam od niej takie pozytywne wibracje oczekiwania. Dlatego tak się teraz cieszę, mówiąc, że przekroczyła wszelkie moje oczekiwania.

John Dos Passos w "Manhattan Transfer" maluje obraz kilku pokoleń mieszkańców Nowego Yorku. Bohaterowie budują rodziny i przyszłość dla siebie w największym mieście Stanów Zjednoczonych we wczesnych latach XX wieku.

- Nie jest rzeczą łatwą nie mieć nigdy przyjaciela.
Spoglądała na swe place oparte o brzeg stołu. Oczy Baldwina tkwiły w jej oczach rzucających miedziany blask. Nagle przerwał milczenie, które zaczynało ciążyć:
- W każdym razie chodźmy tańczyć.

"Manhattan Transfer" jest książką wymagającą dużo od czytelnika; nawiązuje do pewnych przemian społecznych i politycznych w historii Stanów, które może są dość oczywiste dla amerykańskich czytelników, lecz mnie fragmenty wprowadzały czasami w zmieszanie. Jednak autor dość dobrze przedstawia te wydarzenia, tak, że wystarczająco mnie na wszystko naprowadził.

"Manhattan Transfer" jest też powieścią dość trudną, bo Dos Passos okazał się być cholernie ekspresyjnym autorem. Opowieść pobudza wszystkie zmysły, wchodzimy głęboko w myśli i wyobrażenia postaci, czas i przestrzeń przepływają bez pewnych logicznych dla nas zahamowań. Czytelnik musi być czujny, śledząc bieg czasu i linie życia postaci, nic tu nie jest dokładnie określone żadnymi liczbami. Tak mi przyszło dzisiaj do głowy, że "Manhattan Transfer" dość przypomina w kwestii narracji "Ulissesa", i jeśli patrzeć na literaturę tego okresu, to chyba ze wszystkich amerykańskich pisarzy to Dos Passos najbardziej zbliżył się tu do Joyce'a; równocześnie pozostając autorem wyjątkowym i oryginalnym. Temu porównaniu służy również świetnie opracowany obraz przestrzeni samego miasta i Manhattanu.

Tylko, że ja sprzeciwiam się też myśleniu, że jakaś książka może być za trudna dla jakiegokolwiek czytelnika ot tak po prostu. Owszem, istnieją historie wymagające namysłu, ale to też przede wszystkim w moim odczuciu opowieści silnie odwołujące się do naturalnych ludzkich uczuć, których wszyscy doświadczamy. Postacie Dos Passosa znajdują się w szarej sferze moralności, nie wychodzą z tej historii niewinni, momentami irytują, ale są tak swoją... realistycznością i bezbronności mi bliscy, że trzymałam je wszystkie mocno w moim sercu. Przechodzą przez liczne kryzysy, małżeństwa, rozwody, zmianę klasy społecznej, narodziny bliskich osób i ich śmierć, szukanie pracy i zdradę; łatwo jest to wszystko przyjąć, bo jest napisane jak rzeczywistość i codzienność, bez zbędnego dramatyzmu. Te wydarzenia są nam bliskie, więc łatwo jest wybaczyć, również niepewność. Jest tutaj taka scena, którą wprost uwielbiam, gdzie małżeństwo rozpada się późnym wieczorem. Myślałam sobie, że to taki moment, który powinien wzbudzić we mnie frustrację, ale był dla mnie tak czysty i oczywisty, że poczułam tylko akceptację (i poruszenie pięknem sceny i tej pary). Sądzę też, że chociaż Dos Passos hintuje lekko typową dla tamtego pokolenia pisarzy mizoginią, to daje sobie radę z kobiecymi postaciami, jak najbardziej.

Jakie wrażenie wywołała na mnie ta powieść? Jest nawiedzająca, jest dusząca, ale jest też jak zimna mgła w zimowe poranki, jeszcze przed świtem. Jest trochę jak samoloty, które śledziłam na niebie od dzieciństwa, i miejskie ulice, i małe mieszkania. Ogromnie mnie poruszyła. A motyw pożaru, coś czuję, zostanie ze mną długo.

-No, pójdę do domu. - Zaśmiał się sucho. - Nie myśleliśmy, że to wszystko tak trzaśnie, co?
- Dobranoc, Jimps - jęknęła Ellen ziewając. Ale nic się nigdy nie kończy. Gdybym tylko nie była tak strasznie senna. Zgasisz światło?

Jeśli jest jakaś książka z tego dziwnego okresu, na którego punkcie mam fiksację, a którą zdecydujecie się przeczytać, to mam nadzieję, że będzie to "Manhattan Transfer".
A jeśli nie, to chociaż spójrzcie na okładkę magazynu TIME z Dos Passosem.

Ojcze Nasz, który jesteś w niebie, ja chcę spać.

Ta powieść jest tragedią, ale bardzo naturalną i konieczną.

Non un briciolo di senso artistico, non un bel monumento, non atmosfera storica: ecco New York. Sarà, ma allora perché questo libro esplode di energia, ritmo frenetico, voglia di nuovo? Anche se fin dall'inizio si capisce che non è possibile ricordare tutti i personaggi -forse ricordiamo tutte le persone sedute dietro di noi a un ristorante o che salgono e scendono dai tram? - si viene attratti dalla varietà di storie e microstorie e di come sono raccontate in poche parole con tanti dialoghi che si susseguono a brevissima distanza come treni della metropolitana. Mi sembra tutto così moderno, così veloce, in contrapposizione alla lentezza europea di quel periodo, del resto non era un paese per vecchi neppure allora, ed è proprio qui che quella famosa citazione ha origine. Ci sono spunti che si ritrovano poi in tanti romanzi e film successivi, per non parlare dell'ironia , così fresca dopo novant'anni: "Tornato ora, Capitano?"
"Sì, abbiamo preparato il mondo alla democrazia"
Il barbiere attutì le parole sotto l'asciugamano surriscaldato.
Alla fine quasi gira la testa, e come Ellen dico:
Oh, tutte queste storie di danze plastiche, di letteratura, di socialismo e di psicoanalisi. Una dose troppo forte.... Sì, proprio così, George... Forse invecchio

Tα τρία αστέρια είναι για την κινηματογραφική και πολλές φορές ποιητική πρόζα του Passos. Ήταν ένα ιδιαιτερα ατμοσφαιρικό βιβλίο, με τις μικρές ιστορίες ως άλλες vignettes να αποτυπώνουν με τραγικότητα, χιουμορ και αληθοφάνεια τις δύο όψεις του αμερικάνικου ονείρου. Οι διάλογοι ήταν υπέροχοι σχεδόν quotable, και η πραγματικότητα του τότε, με συνέθλιψε πολλές φορές καθώς έναν αιώνα μετά δεν έχουν αλλάξει και πολλά και ο άνθρωπος εξακολουθεί να αναζητά την ευτυχία προσπαθώντας ματαίως να την ορίσει και ακολούθως να την κατακτήσει. Ωστόσο όσο κι αν αποτελεί πλεονέκτημα αυτή η αποσπασματικότητα για την πλήρη εικόνα που ήθελε να παρουσιάσει ο συγγραφέας άλλο τόσο αποτελεί μειονέκτημα για τα δικά μου αναγνωστικά γούστα. Αδιαμφισβήτητος πρωταγωνιστής είναι η σαγηνευτική αλλά και τερατώδης μεγαλούπολη της Νέας Υόρκης, ένα χρυσό κλουβί. Με γοητεύουν οι περιγραφές πόλεων συνεπώς δεν θα μπορούσα να μην το απολαύσω ως βιβλίο. Αποτελεί ένα εμβληματικό προπολεμικό αστικό μυθιστόρημα που αξίζει να διαβαστεί. Θα τα ξαναπούμε καθώς μου ταιριάξατε κύριε John.