In this essay I argue that E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times, The Book of Daniel, and Ragtime, though very distinctive novels in terms of subject matter, style, technique and tone, are all characterized by an exploration of the relationship between history and fiction and by a foregrounding of their own status as constructions of language. I examine how, in each of these works, the author creates a dialectic between a view of history as discourse and an innovative use of fiction to explore history, employing his experimental techniques to convey a strong sense of the experience and burden of historical events and to demonstrate that history can be not just the subject matter of fiction but can enter its language, its imagery, and its structure.
"Narration and History in E. L. Doctorow"
FARRANT, Winifred
1990-01-01
Abstract
In this essay I argue that E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times, The Book of Daniel, and Ragtime, though very distinctive novels in terms of subject matter, style, technique and tone, are all characterized by an exploration of the relationship between history and fiction and by a foregrounding of their own status as constructions of language. I examine how, in each of these works, the author creates a dialectic between a view of history as discourse and an innovative use of fiction to explore history, employing his experimental techniques to convey a strong sense of the experience and burden of historical events and to demonstrate that history can be not just the subject matter of fiction but can enter its language, its imagery, and its structure.
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