Doctorow, E. L. (1931-2015), was an American novelist. His works are noted for their mingling of American history and literary imagination through the interaction of fictional and real-life characters.
Doctorow’s first novel, Welcome to Hard Times (1960), is set in the late 1800’s. It attacks the optimistic belief in the promise of a better life on the Western frontier. The Book of Daniel (1971) describes a man’s attempt to discover the truth about his parents, who had been executed as Communist spies in the 1950’s. Ragtime (1975), set in the early 1900’s, contrasts economic progress and patriotism with social unrest and inequalities in American life. Lives of the Poets (1984) examines the place of the artist in society.
Three of Doctorow’s novels are set in the 1930’s. Loon Lake (1980) tells a “rags to riches” story of a man who is shown to be corrupt. World’s Fair (1985) is an autobiographical novel about growing up in the Bronx borough of New York City. Billy Bathgate (1989) describes a boy’s adventures in the gang of a New York City mobster. The Waterworks (1994) is a complex mystery story set in New York City in 1871. City of God (2000) takes the form of a notebook kept by a New York City novelist. The March (2005) portrays a Union army’s destructive march through the South during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Homer & Langley (2009) is a novel about two real-life brothers who became hermits in their New York City mansion. Collections of Doctorow’s short stories were published as Sweet Land Stories (2004) and All the Time in the World (2011). Doctorow’s essays were collected in Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution: Selected Essays, 1977-1992 (1993) and Creationists: Selected Essays, 1993-2006 (2006). Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born on Jan. 6, 1931, in New York City. He died on July 21, 2015.
