The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War

Two of the most significant writers of their generation, John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway, are described by Morris (Pulitzer) in his evocative, lively volume about how differently they emerged from the crucible of WWI. Those differences, and their disparate personalities, affected how each wrote about that monumental event: Hemingway reveled in the adrenaline rush of danger and heroism, while Dos Passos came away sickened by the wanton destruction and the banality of the military machine. As Morris perceptively argues, “Unlike Hemingway, who sought to describe the desolate [post-WWI] world with honest clarity, Dos Passos wanted his writing to change it.” The writers met briefly as ambulance drivers during the war and became friends in the vibrant expatriate community of postwar Paris. Morris’s narrative demonstrates how, despite jealousies and differences, the two men found common ground, only to split over their opposing views of the Spanish Civil War. Both worked feverishly to find a voice for their “lost” generation and lead a literary revolution, albeit in divergent ways. Dos Passos will be the less recognizable name to most readers, and Morris does a great service by reinserting him into the picture of post-WWI American writers. Agent: Alan Nevins, Renaissance Literary & Talent. (Apr.)