Dos Passos' Path to U.S.A: A Political Biography 1912-1936 by Melvin Landsberg (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 245 that what he didn't see, plenty of other people couldn't see either. It has only been in quite recent years that students of the African drama have begun to produce a deeper and more coherent view of its historical, cultural and social aspects, (one thinks of Clark, Soyinka, Jones, Adedeji, Beier etc.) and there is a great deal still to do. Adelugba has translated Traore's work (excellently, it should be said) in order to "supplement the English-speaking African students' investigation of modern theatre with something close to their own background and experience." For so doing Adelugba deserves our thanks, for, however we may express reservations about some of Traore's observations, there are times when he raises issues that are of fundamental importance to any discussion of African theatre, including language and organisation. On this latter point he says: ... an erudite theatre is taking the place of the popular theatre. Now, this erudite theatre is going to cut itself off from the masses more and more; the professional actor will gradually replace the amateur and the griot from whom he differentiates himsel. ... In his turn this new actor will pose a series of problems: the hierarchy of the profession, his relationship with other social classes, the actor's place in society.... Thus a whole series of new problems will spring up for the playwright: political and social situations and conditions, the influence of cinema and radio as media of instruction and instruments of propaganda. On language: We are convinced that only the African languages themselves have the power to harmonize the spirit of these languages and the African outlook and sense of values. We must therefore return to the vernacular and enrich them. There is an interesting bibliography to supplement the study. MARTIN BANHAM University of Leeds DOS PASSOS' PATH TO U.S.A: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY 1912 - 1936, by Melvin Landsberg. Boulder, Colorado: the Colorado Associated University Press, 1972.292 pp. $10.00. John Dos Passos had a rather determined interest in the drama and the theatre as a means of releasing his social and political ideas upon the public. Professor Landsberg's book, however, is not the volume to read if one wishes to learn much about Dos Passos' contribution to American drama. Dos Passos' Path to U.S.A. may be accurately described as an analysis of a limited period of years from a particular point of view. Although Dos Passos' interest in drama found its major expression during this period - in plays, criticisms of drama, essays on the theatre, associations with theatre people, and work within such groups as the New Playwrights Theater - Professor Landsberg has limited his discussion of Dos Passos' plays to the part they play in that 246 BOOK REVIEWS background from which U.S.A. emerged. Unfortunately, even that objective, valid as it may be, is not satisfied. Few pages of this book are concerned with Dos Passos' dramas, and perhaps the comments on The Garbage Man adequately illustrate Professor Landsberg's approach. It becomes a part of his analysis, Landsberg explains, only as it helps explicate the genesis of Dos Passos' novel, Manhattan Transfer: in theme, as an indication of Dos Passos' political and social opinions of the time, and as an expression of the experimental style that matured finally in U.S.A. Clearly, these points have significance, but they are not well argued in the text. The complex plot of this play is inadequately narrated, while the slight commentary is general and unsupported. The story of Airways, Inc. is also poorly explained. This point in Dos Passos' career (1927 and after) offered an opportunity to delve into his work with the New Playwrights Theater and his essays on the theatre, but Professor Landsberg's objectives did not lead him in this direction. Although he considers the playa "turning point" in Dos Passos' work, his lack of a strong argument makes the assertion seem far-fetched. In another place, where he aptly describes Fortune Heights as merely a "comment in dramatic form," he also calls it a "memorable play." In truth, Professor Landsberg makes little use of Dos Passos' interest in drama and...