Manhattan Transfer (novel)

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Manhattan Transfer is a novel by the American writer John Dos Passos , published in 1925. The title refers to the name of a transfer station in Harrison , New Jersey .

content

In Manhattan Transfer , the urban life of New York, especially Manhattan , is told. The novel, which has around 320 pages, does not develop a stringent plot structure. Dos Passos is instead based on individual résumés to describe the “urban jungle”.

construction

The novel Manhattan Transfer is said to be tripartite or three-dimensional. There are three departments or "sections". The first section and the last section each comprise five chapters. Eight chapters are devoted to the second section. This scheme can also be transferred to the time structure: The action takes place before the First World War , during and after it. Significantly, the middle part with its eight chapters covers just five years in the narrated time, while the entire novel tells about 25 to 30 years. It can be assumed that the middle part is longer because Dos Passos noticed most of the changes in the city of New York at that time.

The chapter heading can be understood symbolically and specifically. Each chapter is preceded by a kind of introduction that differs typographically from the rest of the text. The topic is announced in one word through the heading, it is introduced in the introduction, and on the third level, the actual chapter, it is played out in a variety of ways. Here, too, tripartism or three-dimensionality is the catchphrase.

Volker Klotz refers to another tripartite or three-dimensionality that affects the subject of the big city:

  • Manhattan Transfer reflects the panorama of the city of New York because the characters embody poverty, wealth, pleasure, resentment, jurisdiction, architecture, etc. The loose résumés give the reader multiple and divergent insights into the city.
  • The reader is not only presented with individual résumés, he also shares the experience of the corresponding figure. The closeness between figure and reader is created by the fact that both are voyeurs: They “together” observe fires, masses, alcohol smugglers' fights, streets, rooms, posters, hotel halls, etc. There are no detailed explanations about the interior or the like, but the reader sees what the character perceives. Experiencing the city also includes the relationship between the character in a novel and the big city. Individuals are constantly talking about the city, cursing it or blaming it for all that has happened to them.
  • Dos Passos saw immense power in the city. This view is also reflected in his novel. Manhattan determines the life of every individual and chooses who it brings to happiness or suffering, who is chosen and who is not needed and who is spewed out of the great maw of the big city.

characters

Within each chapter, characters are introduced that often only appear once and then disappear again. Other figures are mentioned more often, but there is always a loose collection of momentary fragments from the lives of various people. No cohesive story is told that is centered around a hero. The figures present themselves as if they had been torn out of an indefinable mass for a moment, only to be drowned again in the city bustle. About a hundred characters are introduced in the novel. All persons are given the same weighting. In terms of quantity, however, the following figures differ from the others.

Gus McNiel is a milkman who has an accident and ends up with a large sum of money, which means he can climb a few steps on the social ladder. This sudden rise sparks his ambition, and he becomes a sly union leader who knows how to pit political opponents against one another.

George Baldwin started his career taking on the Gus McNiel case. He embodies the American success myth “from dishwasher to millionaire”. George Baldwin may have achieved professional success, but at the same time there is a process of decline of himself. Compared to Ellen Thatcher, who to a certain extent "sells" for her career, George Baldwin lacks the necessary distance to reflect on his actions, while Ellen is fully aware of her actions and despises herself for it. George Baldwin, however, feels sorry for himself and tries to restore his inner substance through affairs. At the end of the novel, Ellen Thatcher and George Baldwin get married, and the reader quickly realizes that this relationship will not be a happy one.

Jimmy Herf came to America with his mother as a young boy. Some time later she dies and Jimmy grows up with relatives. He wanders through New York and tries his hand at being a journalist for a while. Jimmy Herf leaves the big city because of his "non-functioning". Like his professional career, his marriage to Ellen Thatcher is doomed to fail. This character tries not to fool himself, which is why Jimmy Herf is the only one who can leave New York alive.

Ellen Thatcher is born at the beginning of the novel. She seeks her fulfillment in interpersonal relationships. But for the sake of her career, she puts her personality and demands on life back. She marries three times in total. Only once is she emotionally touched. Stan Emery arouses these feelings in her, but since he marries another woman while bingeing and eventually kills himself, she cannot act out her feelings.

Stan Emery comes from a wealthy family. However, he cannot cope with his role and gets lost in alcohol. His helplessness results from big city life. He doesn't seem up to this life because he's too sensitive. Ultimately, he lives out his desperate protest by setting himself and his apartment up in flames.

Bud Korpenning fled the country to the city because he killed his father. He is looking for a job and tries to find his way into the city by constantly looking for the “center of things”. Bud Korpenning is overrun by the city because he does not know how it works, so that he ultimately commits suicide.

Text passages as examples

“If New York seems stale and boring, the terrible thing about it is the fact that there is nowhere else to go. New York is the top, the top of the world. Here we can only walk in circles like a hamster in a cage. "

“Well perhaps you can tell me why in this country nobody ever does anything. Nobody ever writes any music, or starts any revolutions or falls in love. All anybody ever does is to get drunk and tell smutty stories. I think it's disgusting ... "

- (Conversation between Jimmy and Stan. Jimmy's comment.)

"Look here Cecily a divorce would be very harmful to my situation downtown at the moment, but if you really don't want to go on living with me I'll see what I can arrange ..."

- (Conversation between George Baldwin and his first wife, Cecily. Comment by Baldwin.)

“All I do is sit in the office and let the young fellows do the work. My future's all cut out for me. I suppose I could get solemn and pompous and practice little private vices… but there's more in me than that. "

- (Conversation between George Baldwin and Ellen Thatcher. Comment by Baldwin.)

“Through dinner she felt a gradual icy coldness stealing through her like novocaine. She had made up her mind. It seemed as if she had set the photograph of herself in her own place, forever frozen into a single gesture. An invisible silk band of bitterness was tightening round her throat, strangling. "

- (Representation of Ellen Thatcher.)

“Suppose I'd gone with that young man with the ugly necktie who tried to pick me up… There are lives to be lived if only you didn't care. Care for what, for what; the opinion of mankind, money success, hotel lobbies, health, umbrellas, Uneeda biscuits ...? "

- (Thoughts of Ellen Thatcher.)

“Why the hell does everybody want to succeed? I'd like to meet somebody who wanted to fail. That's the only sublime thing. "

- (Statement by Stan Emery.)

poetics

Dos Passos' spelling is very reminiscent of the film. The inner perspective of the characters is not described with words such as “despair”, “fear” or the like, but these attributes must be filtered out by the reader himself. Dos Passos provides the reader with the material by creating "fear". The conclusion must be drawn by the reader himself. Another “cinematic narrative element” is the use of the “camera eye”. The narrator controls the reader's perspective in such a way that it is equivalent to a “camera view”. The reader perceives trivialities which he himself can add up to a new story because they are merely hinted at by the author. Thus, the narrator does not take a leadership position.

Press releases also play an important role at Dos Passos. The author only uses authentic news material and thus creates a fusion of "actual" reality and the reality of the novel. The lives of the individual characters appear to be as “insignificant” as press releases. They appear, are important for a short period of time, and then disappear again into oblivion. This makes the anonymity of the metropolis clear. In addition, the actual narrative is broken through the use of headlines etc. The already loose structure is broken up even further by adding scraps of newspaper. By constantly breaking down his own text into its components, the author achieves a high speed. The rhythm and fast pace of New York serve Dos Passos to draw attention to the fact that there is a constant overload of stimuli there. Ultimately, this inherent criticism leads to a demonization of the big city.

reception

Manhattan Transfer has been included in the ZEIT Library of 100 Books .

Radio play version

In May 2016, Südwestrundfunk broadcast the three-part version, and in August 2016 Deutschlandfunk broadcast the original broadcast of the four-part German radio play version. The production of Südwestrundfunk with Deutschlandfunk is based on the new translation by Dirk van Gunsteren (2016). The radio play was edited by Leonhard Koppelmann and Hermann Kretzschmar , the composition is by Hermann Kretzschmar, and directed by Leonhard Koppelmann. In the four hours of playing, 50 speakers have their say, including Maren Eggert , Stefan Konarske , Leonhard Koppelmann, Ulrich Matthes , Ulrich Noethen , Milan Peschel , Andreas Pietschmann , Axel Prahl , and Max von Pufendorf . In addition, "she [the radio play version ] deliberately works with musical miniatures in order to transform the glamor and misery of this big city juggernaut into an artistic-acoustic reality of today."

  • John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. CD edition of the radio play version. HörbucHHamburg, Hamburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-95713-027-3 (5 CDs; 375 min. 6 CDs; 338 min.)

expenditure

  • John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. Harper and Brothers, New York / London 1925, OCLC 988351 .
  • John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. White Lion Publishers, London 1974, ISBN 0-85617-157-3 .
  • John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer (= ro-ro-ro-Taschenbuch. Ed. 836/837). Translated from American English by Paul Baudisch. Rowohlt, Reinbek b. Hamburg 1966, DNB 456482555 .
  • John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. From the American. trans. by Paul Baudisch. Aufbau-Verl., East Berlin [u. a.] 1975, OCLC 258136798 .
  • John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. Translated from American English by Dirk van Gunsteren . Rowohlt, Reinbek and Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-498-05046-7 .

Secondary literature

  • Frank Fingerhuth: John Steinbeck and John Dos Passos: “American tradition” and social reality. Investigation of the literary and socio-political development diagram of two American writers of the 20th century. Hamburger Buchagentur, Hamburg 1981, ISBN 3-922573-03-7 .
  • Werner Gotzmann: Literary experience of the big city (1922–1988) with Joyce, Dos Passos - Johnson - Malerba, Calvino - McInerney, Genzmer, Morshäuser (= European university publications . Series 18: Comparative literary studies. Volume 53). P. Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1990, ISBN 3-631-42558-9 . Zugl .: Diss., Techn. Univ., Berlin 1989.
  • Hartwig Isernhagen : Aesthetic innovation and cultural criticism. The early work of John Dos Passos 1916–1938 (= American Studies. Volume 56). Fink, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7705-2112-9 .
  • Volker Klotz: The narrated city. A subject as a challenge to the novel from Lesage to Döblin. Hanser, Munich 1969, DNB 457234172 , pp. 317-371 (zugl .: Habil.-Schr., Techn. Univ., Berlin 1968); Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verl., Reinbek b. Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-499-55464-X .
  • Lisa Nanney: John Dos Passos (= Twayne's United States Authors Series. No. 700). Twayne / Prentice Hall International, New York / London 1998, ISBN 0-8057-3971-8 .
  • ED Lowry: Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer and the Technique of the Film. In: Edgar Lohner (ed.): The American novel in the 19th and 20th centuries. Interpretations. E. Schmidt, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-503-00515-3 , pp. 238-257.
  • Renate Schmidt von Bardeleben: The image of New York in the narrative work of Dreiser and Dos Passos (= Mainz Americanist contributions. Volume 9). Hueber, Munich 1967, DNB 458857726 (also: Diss., Univ. Mainz, Philos. Fac., Mainz 1967, DNB 482267119 ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Radio play in three parts. Manhattan transfer. The epochal metropolitan panorama by John Dos Passos as a radio play ( memento from July 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: swr.de/swr2, accessed on July 9, 2016 (archived SWR website with links; scene from Manhattan Transfer (2/3). Excerpt from: 1913–1916).
  2. ↑ John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. London 1974, p. 193.
  3. ↑ John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. London 1974, p. 185.
  4. ↑ John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. London 1974, p. 220.
  5. ↑ John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. London 1974, p. 375.
  6. ↑ John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. London 1974, p. 400.
  7. ↑ John Dos Passos: Manhattan Transfer. London 1974, p. 175.
  8. ↑ Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos. Entertainment and avant-garde. A rediscovery ( memento of July 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: swr.de/swr2, accessed on July 9, 2016 (The history of the radio play production Manhattan Transfer).
  9. ↑ That it was possible to write like that! Interview with Dos Passos translator Dirk van Gunsteren. The questions were asked by Manfred Hess, chief dramaturge of the SWR2 radio play ( memento from July 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: swr.de/swr2, accessed on July 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ Original broadcast. Manhattan Transfer (1/4). Radio play based on the novel of the same name by John Dos Passos ( Memento from July 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: deutschlandfunk.de, accessed on July 9, 2016.
  11. ↑ Information according to ISBN 978-3-95713-027-3 , accessed on July 9, 2016.
  12. ↑ Information based on the radio play in three parts. Manhattan transfer. The epochal metropolitan panorama by John Dos Passos as a radio play ( memento from July 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: swr.de/swr2, accessed on July 9, 2016 (archived SWR website with links; scene from Manhattan Transfer (2/3). Excerpt from: 1913–1916).
  13. ↑ Manhattan Transfer. In: rowohlt.de, accessed on June 21, 2016 (for new translation 2016).
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Schneider : What is wrong with the mixture of voices? That was overdue: Dirk van Gunsteren has re-translated John Dos Passos' famous city novel “Manhattan Transfer”. FAZ . January 10, 2017, p. 10 ( review in buecher.de ).