That's right ,MIDAIR, couldn't remember the name. Of Dos Passos, I've only read USA and Three Soldiers, but nothing of Lawrence Durrell. His friend Henry Miller has given me as much pleasure as any other practitioner of fiction (though Miller was usually autobiographical) BLACK SPRING is unforgettable. Thinking about it some time ago, I realized that most of my favorite books ARE in fact basically autobiographies. The aforementioned Miller, Diary of a Madman by Strindberg, Because I was Flesh by Edward Dahlberg---this last one probably impressed me at the age of 21 or 22 as much as anything I've ever read. Here's another great American novel from about 1964: Richard Yates's REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, the first and best novel to anatomize the earliest generation to come of age after WW2(his own), settle in suburbia (Revolutionary Road is the name of the section of the development they live in), and lead rather unhappily conflicted lives of "quiet desperation". A GREAT NOVEL.
----BTW ---I noticed scrolling down this thread you mentioned Knowles as the author of THE COLLECTOR. It was Fowles. Didn't read the novel but the movie I remember as outstanding. Also I saw you mentioned Duke of Deception and Boy's Life by the Woolf brothers. Both fine books. Geoffrey is a friend of a writer friend of mine from the late 60s, who also has a coming of age novel that's good and worth reading, and basically is all about US in the late 60s early 70s---James Atlas, "The Great Pretender".
Ashamed to say, I haven't read Yates. One of the holes in my fiction education. However, I despise Henry Miller for reasons I don't quite understand. I read about three paragraphs of the guy and want to slap him silly. Durrell probably shouldn't be missed, though out of fashion. Also, if you're into honest writing, check out Jim Harrison, particularly his new memoir, Life on the Side. He was part of that whole montana group, including McGuane etc. And, he remains the only "celebrity" who has ever intimidated me.