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Ragtime is a 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow. This work of historical fiction is mostly set in New York City from about 1900 until the United States entry into World War 1 in 1917. A unique adaptation of the historical narrative genre, the novel blends three fictional American families and various actual historical figures into a framework that revolves around events, characters and ideas important in the History of the United States. Ragtime is a style of music; see: ragtime. ...
Front dustjacket cover of harback of E. L. Doctorows novel Ragtime This image is a book cover. ...
E.L. Doctorow, photograph by Jill Krementz, from back cover of Doctorows 1975 novel Ragtime Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (born January 6, 1931, New York, New York) is the author of several critically acclaimed novels that blend history and social criticism. ...
For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
A historical novel a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ...
A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ...
// Random House is a publishing house based in New York City. ...
See also: 1974 in literature, other events of 1975, 1976 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ...
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ISBN redirects here. ...
See also: 1974 in literature, other events of 1975, 1976 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
This article is about the literary concept. ...
E.L. Doctorow, photograph by Jill Krementz, from back cover of Doctorows 1975 novel Ragtime Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (born January 6, 1931, New York, New York) is the author of several critically acclaimed novels that blend history and social criticism. ...
Look up historical fiction in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...
Äž: For the film, see: 1900 (film). ...
“The Great War †redirects here. ...
1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ...
American history redirects here. ...
Plot summmary
The novel opens in the year 1902, in the town of New Rochelle, New York, at the house of an upper class family comprised of Mother, Father, and the little boy. Mother's Younger Brother falls in love with the famous beauty Evelyn Nesbit, whose husband Harry Thaw has recently been charged with the murder of her ex- husband, architect Stanford White. Harry Houdini's car breaks in front of the family's house, and he pays them a visit. Father leaves on a trip to the Arctic with the explorer Peary. Evelyn Nesbit (December 25, 1884 – January 17, 1967) was an artists model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry K. Thaw. ...
Harry Kendall Thaw. ...
Stanford White (1853-1906) Washington Square Arch New York American on June 25, 1906 Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. ...
Houdini redirects here. ...
An immigrant family, consisting of Mameh, Tateh, and the little girl, live in the Lower East Side in utter poverty. To make ends meet, Mameh is forced to prostitute herself to her employer. When Tateh find out, he takes the little girl and leaves her. Evelyn Nesbit visits the Lower East Side, where she becomes enchanted with Tateh's daughter, and soon her visits become regular. The little girl becomes ill, and Evelyn cares for her. Mother's Younger Brother begins to follow Evelyn everywhere without her knowledge. Tateh, Evelyn Nesbit, and the little girl attend a socialist meeting whose featured speaker, Emma Goldman, criticizes Evelyn for employing her sexuality to gain prominence in capitalistic society. Mother rescues and claims responsibility for a newborn baby she discovers buried alive in her backyard; she soon learns it is the child of a black washwoman named Sarah. Theory Issues Culture By region Lists Anarchism Portal Politics Portal · Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) aka Red Emma, was a Lithuanian-born anarchist known for her writings and speeches. ...
Evelyn Nesbit and Mother's Younger Brother start to see a lot of one another. Mother's Younger Brother helps Evelyn search for Tateh and his little girl, but to no avail. Tateh and his daughter happily leave New York City and travel up the Eastern seaboard. Meanwhile, Houdini learns how to fly planes, and performs a demonstration for Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie. Father experiences a feeling of profound isolation upon his return to New Rochelle. Mother's Younger Brother becomes proficient in the use of bombs. Tateh and his little girl travel to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where there is a strike against the textile mills, and continue to many other cities. Franz Ferdinand is the name of: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the presumptive heir to the throne of Austria. ...
In Philadelphia, Tateh finds a novelty store where the owner agrees to buy the movie books (flip books) Tateh has invented. Tateh decides they will return to Lawrence to settle down. Henry Ford pays a lunch visit to J.P. Morgan and they discuss technology and religion. One afternoon, a black man named Coalhouse Walker, the father of Sarah's child, stops by the home in New Rochelle, asking to see Sarah, who refuses to see him. After Coalhouse continues to call on her every Sunday, Sarah finally accepts his proposal for marriage. One day Coalhouse Walker is driving to New York when volunteers from the Emerald Isle firehouse, lead by fire chief Willie Conklin, bar his path. While Coalhouse seeks help from the police, the volunteers wreck his car. When Coalhouse complains he is arrested. Coalhouse dedicates the funds he originally intended for his wedding toward securing a lawyer. However, he cannot find a lawyer willing to represent him. A flip book is a book with a series of pictures varying gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate, simulating motion or some other change. ...
Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ...
John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913), American financier and banker, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, a son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813–1890), who was a partner of George Peabody and the founder of the house of J. S. Morgan & Co. ...
One night, Sarah leaves the house to attend an event at which Mr. Taft's Vice- President would be present; she wishes to petition the federal government on Coalhouse's behalf. However, the secret service men hit her hard in the chest; she soon grows ill and dies. In revenge, Coalhouse causes an explosion at the Emerald Isle firehouse, killing four volunteers. Father and Mother's Younger Brother fight over the situation, and Mother's Younger Brother leaves the household to join Coalhouse and his followers. Mother and Father move to Atlantic City to escape the scrutiny of the townspeople. Willie Conklin also begins to feel a lot of pressure to leave town. Mother and Father meet Tateh in Atlantic City, and the little boy and the little girl soon begin to spend a lot of time together.
Coalhouse and his followers break into the library of J.P. Morgan, who is abroad at the time, and threaten to explode the building. The District Attorney Charles S. Whitman calls Coalhouse, who reiterates to him his original demands that they return his vehicle and that Conklin dies for Sarah's death. Booker T. Washington attempts to persuade Coalhouse to end his siege, but soon leaves out of frustration. Father then meets with Coalhouse, and approaches Whitman with his demands, at which point Whitman presents Coalhouse with both his Model T and Willie Conklin. After his followers leave free of punishment, Coalhouse exits Morgan's house, and Father, still inside, hears the firing squad. Police report that Coalhouse had made an attempt at escaping, but he more likely made a slight movement that he knew would cause his death. Mother's Younger Brother, having secured the use of Coalhouse's Model-T, travels all around the country and soon to Mexico, where he joins revolutionary forces and dies about a year later.
As tensions in Europe develop, World War I approaches. Morgan travels to Egypt, where he hopes a visit to the pyramids will restore his sense of spirituality. Rather, he cannot sleep and becomes disheartened by his failure to experience what he has expected. Soon his health rapidly deteriorates and he dies. The narrator describes the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie. Father dies aboard the Lusitania, and a year after his death, Tateh and Mother marry each other.
Historical figures in the novel Harry Houdini repeatedly appears in the narrative interacting with the characters and tying many details together. Other real historical characters in the novel include Robert Peary, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, Harry K. Thaw, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Booker T. Washington, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Emiliano Zapata. Houdini redirects here. ...
Robert Edwin Peary (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole Peary was born in the Pittsburgh area town of Cresson, Pennsylvania. ...
This article is about the financier. ...
Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ...
Theory Issues Culture By region Lists Anarchism Portal Politics Portal · Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) aka Red Emma, was a Lithuanian-born anarchist known for her writings and speeches. ...
Evelyn Nesbit (December 25, 1884 – January 17, 1967) was an artists model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry K. Thaw. ...
Stanford White (1853-1906) Washington Square Arch New York American on June 25, 1906 Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. ...
Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 - February 22, 1947), son of Pittsburgh coal and railroad baron William Thaw. ...
For the Scottish rock band, see Franz Ferdinand (band). ...
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author and leader of the African American community. ...
Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ...
Jung redirects here. ...
For other uses, see Emiliano Zapata (disambiguation). ...
Literary significance and reception The novel was very well received by literary critics. It was a nominee for the Nebula Award for Best Novel and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and the Arts and Letters Award. Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel. ...
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American association of approximately seven hundred book reviewers. ...
Fredric Jameson's 'Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism' (1991 Duke Uni Press) devotes 5 pages to Doctorow's 'Ragtime' in illustrating the crisis of historiography and a resistance to interpretation. Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism is a 1991 book by Fredric Jameson which started its life as a 1984 article in a 1984 article in the New Left Review. ...
Allusions and references
Allusions to other works The first name of Coalhouse Walker is a literary reference to the German novella "Michael Kohlhaas" by Heinrich von Kleist. Many events and plot points are drawn from this story. Michael Kohlhaas is an 1811 novella by Heinrich von Kleist. ...
Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (October 18, 1777 – November 21, 1811) was a German poet, dramatist and novelist. ...
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations It has been adapted for a 1981 movie (see: Ragtime (film)) and a 1998 musical, (see: Ragtime (musical)). Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...
This article is about motion pictures. ...
Ragtime is a 1981 motion picture based on the historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. ...
Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...
Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ...
Ragtime is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty. ...
Notes - The novel makes no use of the quotation mark. Quotations are made clear by context despite this lack of punctuation. Doctorow does not do this in most of his other novels; he again did without quotation marks in his 2005 novel "The March".
Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...
The American Review has been the name of more than one publication. ...
Quotation marks or inverted commas (also called quotes and speech marks) are punctuation marks used in pairs to set off speech, a quotation, a phrase or a word. ...
The term punctuation has two different linguistic meanings: in general, the act and the effect of punctuating, i. ...
The March is a 2005 historical fiction novel by E. L. Doctorow. ...
Reviews - The Nation, October 4th 1975, p.310 'To Impose a Phrasing on History' by Joseph Moses
- NY Times Review from 1975 (available from NY Times Ragtime theatrical website)
External link - SparkNotes - SparkNotes study guide.
Further reading - Models of misrepresentation : on the fiction of E.L. Doctorow / Christopher D. Morris. Uni of Mississippi Press, 1991' - Chapter 5 - analysis of ambiguous narrative voice and issues of demystification
- Postmodernism, or, The cultural logic of late capitalism / Fredric Jameson.Duke University Press, c1991. - p21-25
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