The John Dos Passos "U.S.A." trilogy was originally published as three books--titled "The 42nd Parallel," "1919," and "The Big Money"--but was eventually published inside one set of covers, unlike the more common trilogy involving three separate books. Make no mistake, though, being three in a single volume doesn't mean each one is short, as the total runs over 1,300 pages.

    Throughout the work, Dos Passos intertwines four distinct voices. These are:

    1. A fictional narrative covering the lives of 12 individuals as they try to fit into life in America in the early 20th century. The first part of the trilogy was published in 1930. It was completed published as a single-volume edition in 1938. They included a marketer, a mechanic, a couple of journalists, a Harvard grad, a volunteer nurse, an aspiring Hollywood actress, and several other "types" of the time. Their stories are told individually, though they meet from time to time.

    2. Second are the "Camera Eye" seconds, a "stream-of-consciousness" telling of Dos Passos' own autobiography.

    3. Next, the "Newsreels" present headlines and clips from newspapers, as well as bits of popular songs. This gives more a "feel" for the time rather than sharing any particular story.

    4. Finally, there are brief biographies of real historical figures like former president Woodrow Wilson and industrialist Henry Ford.

    Taken together, the voices work like an Impressionist painting, or a kaleidoscope, made up of many individual dots or pieces of glass but adding up to a single image. Although the sections are clearly divided with titles ("The Camera's Eye," etc.), we find that they're not really separate at all. A name in a newspaper article here may be given a biography there. Someone in the thoughts of Dos Passos himself may turn up as a fictional character elsewhere.

    It was a bold way to write, and can leave the reader confused. But it was good enough that it became No. 23 on the Modern Library list of the "100 Greatest Novels of the 20th Century."

    Vocabulary: Which word above means:

    1. hoping to be (something)

    2. one who sells a product line

    3. one who owns factories

    4. version of a book or newspaper

    5. a children's toy one looks into and turns to change the view

    6. different from

    7. titles in a newspaper story

    8. one who repairs cars or machines

    9. pieces of a newspaper story

    10. twists together, like a rope

    ANSWERS: 1. aspiring 2. marketer 3. industrialist 4. edition 5. kaleidoscope 6. unlike 7. headlines 8. mechanic 9. clips 10. intertwines