What Makes a Novelist

It is a humbling experience for an inhabitant of the new world beyond the western ocean to stand up, today, in this Corsini Palace amid all the incrustations of history and to confront the shades of the mighty dead. Galileo Galilei, what would he think? How about Benedetto Croce? That fastidious spirit might not approve at all. All I can say is that I am profoundly grateful, and particularly that I am grateful to the “Academy of the Sharp Eyes” for picking out the technique of narrative for special mention. Since I have spent my life wrestling with the problem of how to tell a story it is gratifying to receive this commendation as I near the end of it.

Though the series of novels which I now call Contemporary Chronicles began to take final form in the Thirties, the experiences that sparked them off date back to the years of the European war of 1914-18. Even the most topical chronicler is always years behind the times. Like many others of my generation I got most of my education from the first war.

JD

About the Author

John Dos Passos

John Dos Passos (1896–1970) was an acclaimed American novelist and frequent contributor to National Review.

It is a humbling experience for an inhabitant of the new world beyond the western ocean to stand up, today, in this Corsini Palace amid all the incrustations of history and to confront the shades of the mighty dead. Galileo Galilei, what would he think? How about Benedetto Croce? That fastidious spirit might not approve at all. All I can say is that I am profoundly grateful, and particularly that I am grateful to the “Academy of the Sharp Eyes” for picking out the technique of narrative for special mention. Since I have spent my life wrestling with the problem of how to tell a story it is gratifying to receive this commendation as I near the end of it.

Though the series of novels which I now call Contemporary Chronicles began to take final form in the Thirties, the experiences that sparked them off date back to the years of the European war of 1914-18. Even the most topical chronicler is always years behind the times. Like many others of my generation I got most of my education from the first war.