![]() This novel is also a national Bildungsroman and as such it looks at the various stages of American history in the 20th century. Doctorow in his False Documents states „that there is no fiction or non-fiction as we commonly understand the distinction: there is only narrative.” (26) and being a writer is the proper job because a writer is privileged, and "alone among the arts, literature confuses fact and fiction" (18). I will also have a look at the trends that form today’s American novels and show Doctorow’s place in this process. Doctorow wants to entertain us with his novel and being faithful to history is not one of the criteria of show-business. He does not want to be accurate, he does not wish simply to retell facts but wants to use them for a colorful story in which they do not have to show history as it was but as it could have been. When reaching out for history Doctorow automatically undertakes the role of the cultural historian but he does it as he likes it. As Ragtime is not entirely a piece of historical writing, I need to demonstrate the other elements that mix and also mellow the otherwise quite rigid genre to make it into a more spectacular semi-fiction. I will have a look at the origins and the 20th-century versions of this genre in order to show Doctorow’s genius and mastery of the historical novel. Ragtime is a semi-historical novel which means it blends real and fictional people, locations and events. In the second chapter I am going to examine Doctorow’s writing style and some of his other works. The positive and negative critique of the novel Ragtime will be demonstrated along with the special narration as it starts the line of works with an obscured and overshadowed narrator with almost a cameo-role. Some evidences of this accordance are obvious (the epigraph, their job, color of skin etc…) so next to these I will have to concentrate more on the indirect, concealed references. Coalhouse Walker’s surface and hidden qualities are very similar to those of Scott Joplin, the father of ragtime. Two perfect mirrored image-pairs are Coalhouse Walker – Scott Jolpin (1868-1917) and Harry Houdini (1874-1926) – Al Jolson (1886-1950) so their figures will be examined and compared. Also the themes and techniques will be examined of which the mirror is the most important. According to Doctorow himself the structure of the novel perfectly follows the patterns given by ragtime music which has surface and secondary connotations, too. It is a type of music the structure of which is similar to that of the novel which is not an accident. In the first chapter the title will be examined first. ![]() In the following thesis I am going to look at Edgar Lawrence Doctorow’s novel Ragtime (1975) from different perspectives, taking into consideration its genre, the era it represents, the diversity of origins and lifestyles the people of that era stand for and also the possibilities pursued by the immigrants settling for America in the first decades of the 20th century. When Literature Meets Cultural History Ragtime as a Work of Midfiction Doctorow’s Style Ragtime – Music and History Critique and the Unique NarrationĢ. ![]()
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