The instinct of Workmanship in Dos Passos s U.S.A. Trilogy

Research on Dos Passos’s U.S.A. trilogy has mostly been focused on its technicalities or the notion of the American Dream and the cultural issues from a non-Veblenian point of view. Though Veblen s The Theory of the Leisure Class has been used in researches on U.S.A., and considering Veblen s influence on Dos Passos, still no study of the concept of efficiency has been conducted within a framework based on Veblen s theoretical views. In this study, an attempt is made to investigate in what way the life-styles of the characters who come from the lower classes are under the influence of the financial struggles and their devotion to the higher leisure class. The interpretation of Dos Passos s trilogy will be anchored in a Veblenian philosophical framework for the novelist’s characters motives will be more palpable once Veblen s critical terminology is employed.

Keywords:

Dos Passos , Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class , The U.S.A. Trilogy , Efficiency.