One Man's Initiation—1917

Dos Passos, John, 1896-1970Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 157K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.One Man's Initiation—1917 by John Dos PassosAuthor: Dos Passos, John, 1896-1970,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 7, 2008

Editor's review

Set against the backdrop of World War I, this novel uses a young protagonist's experience of military service to portray an individual's growth and disillusionment within the war machine. Dos Passos records marches, trenches, and life behind the lines in a fragmentary, impressionistic style; the language is restrained yet highly visual, conveying both the fine-grained sensations of an individual perspective and a cool scrutiny of war and institutions. As a public-domain ebook, it serves as an accessible introduction to early American modernist narrative experimentation and to World War I literature. While reading, pay attention to how shifts in narrative perspective and the accumulation of detail create atmosphere, and consider comparing it with war memoirs of the same period to appreciate the difference between fiction and firsthand experience. It is not long, so it suits reading in several sittings while jotting down memorable scenes.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in World War I literature and war fiction
Students and researchers seeking to understand Dos Passos's early style
Readers who enjoy impressionistic, fragmentary narrative and close reading
Teachers who need a public-domain English text for literature course preparation

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction expecting a complete plotline and strong dramatic conflict
Readers seeking systematic historical knowledge of World War I rather than a literary experience
Beginners who find reading the English original very difficult and have no annotations to assist them

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the overall atmosphere, then go back and map the key points in the protagonist's experience and the shifts in perspective.
Take notes as you read on recurring images and scenes, and observe how the author uses detail in place of direct commentary.
Read alongside a concise history of World War I or a war diary from the same period to understand the difference between fiction and firsthand experience.
For the English text, aim to read one or two chapters a day; when you meet a long sentence, identify its main structure first rather than looking up every word.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book reportage or a fictional novel?

It is a novel set against the backdrop of World War I. The protagonist's experience is fictional, but the details and atmosphere come from the author's observation and feeling of the wartime environment. It should not be used as historical source material; it is better read as a literary text for experiencing an individual's psychological changes in war.

Can I read this book if my English is only average?

The language is generally restrained and the sentences are not especially difficult, but the impressionistic narration and abrupt shifts between scenes may make comprehension harder. It is advisable to read a Chinese introduction first to understand the background, then read the English original in sections; when you meet a long sentence, identify its main structure first and use a dictionary when necessary—do not try to understand everything in one pass.

Is this book suitable for learning about World War I history?

It offers a literary rendering of the firsthand experience of World War I, not systematic historical knowledge. If your goal is to understand the course of battles, political background, and treaty contents, you should choose specialized historical works; this book is better used, after you have basic historical facts, to feel the impact of war on individuals and its literary expression.

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About the author

Dos Passos, John, 1896-1970 Author

John Dos Passos (1896–1970) was an American novelist. Four of his works are held in this collection: Three Soldiers, Rosinante to the Road Again, One Man's Initiation—1917, and A Pushcart at the Curb. As public information is limited, this note does not detail his biography but focuses on the character of his writing as seen in these works. His writing often takes war and individual fate as its point of departure, attending to the circumstances and inner changes of ordinary people amid turbulent times, with a calm tone and a strong sense of social observation. Works such as Three Soldiers show his sustained concern with military life and human pressure, while his essays and reminiscences reveal a narrative that combines documentary immediacy with literary quality.