Literary Criticisms On The Waterworks Term paper
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Literary Criticisms on The Waterworks by E.L. DoctorowLiterary Criticisms (mostly book reviews) on the novel The Waterworks, by E.L. Doctorow focus on different topics. One talks of the author and his style in writing the novel. Another describes Doctorow's love for New York city, which can be seen throughout the pages of his various novels. There is one that discusses the aspects of Utopia in the novel. Also, "The New Yorker" has an interview with him discussing his work. Ted Solotaroff, in "The Nation", claims that this novel, which takes place in 1871, serves as a literary link between Hawthorne, Melville and Poe and the post-Civil war figures, such as Twaine, Howells and Crane. The earlier writers are characterized by dark meditative tales and romances, while the later ones wrote realistic stories. Also, the actual writings differed, in that the earlier writings were written in an intensely literary language while the later writings drop a step to incorporate the spoken idiom. Hence, The Waterworks is a link between these two contrasting styles. The narration of the story is told in a straight forward, reportorial fashion. In fact, the narration would have been described by Melville as an "inside narrative" because it's inhabited by the mind and heart of the narrator. However, the story itself is quite imaginative and murky (Solotaroff 784, 785). One can also see the techniques of Poe in the characters of the story. Edmund Donne, the on honest detective in New York at the time is reminiscent of Poe's M. Maupin, the first of the gentleman investigators. In this sense Doctorow's Donne is the sleuth of the democratic future. This again ties together the writings of the pre and post Civil War eras. Dr. Sartorius also plays a role in tying in the two eras. He is a man whom personifies the search for scientific progress for the sole sake of science. He is in fact a man with one foot in his time and one foot in ours, due to his many scientific findings (Solotaroff 786-790). I, of course, do not have the necessary background to give a solid rating of this review. However, Solotaroff does seem to prove his point, and it is a novel concept. I like the idea that Doctorow uses a certain style of writing which is indicative of the time period he is writing about. Walter Goodman in "The New Leader", chooses to comment on Doctorow's strong love for New York. In Doctorow's novels, mainly Ragtime, World's Fair, and The Book of Daniel, he takes us through the history of New York City. As McIlvaine,the main character, states "The soul of the city was always my subject" (Goodman 35). One can see Doctorow's affinity for the old city in his writings: "...all at once the block and tackle were raising the marble and granite mansions of Fifth Avenue, and burly cops were wading throughout the stopped traffic on Broadway, slapping horses on the rumps, disengaging carriage wheels, and cursing the heedless entanglements of horsecars, stages, drays, and two-in hands, by which we transported ourselves throughout the business day" (Goodman 35). Goodman goes as far as to exclaim that when Doctorow writes, "You have not seen them [the villains of the story], except in the shadows, or heard them speak, except in the voices of others...they've been hiding in my language" he is admitting a creative failure in not developing...
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