History X Fiction

 

History X Fiction in Rag Time 

(E.L Doctorow)

What is Ragtime ?;

    Ragtime,  by E. L. Doctorow is a historical fiction novel first published in 1975, set in the early 20th century, primarily in New York City and its surrounding areas between 1902 and 1915. The narrative centers on a wealthy, unnamed family in New Rochelle, New York,  the family's business involves manufacturing flags and fireworks, reflecting the patriotic fervor of the era. The story unfolds through the eyes of the young boy, whose naive perspective allows for a panoramic view of the diverse lives and social upheavals of the time.

    It is totally possible to stablish a relationship between the title of the book and a classical musical gender called Ragtime, created by Afro-American communities  in the 1890s to 1910s, which would later be unpopularized by the ascension of jazz. Looking further it's real possible to identify in the book the importance of music, principally for the character called Coalhouse, a black pianist really present in the story of the book.

History in Ragtime;

    

    The book is full with historical events that are framed to compose the plot of the story and also give drama to it. One of the most noticeable one is the apparition of Harry Houdini in the early chapters of the book who is not the main reference for this topic, it is also possible to notice the presence of Evelyn Nesbit and Emma Goldman giving a large contribution for the plot and the development of the story. E.L Doctorow loves to insert this historical characters, so that us readers can look at the names and say "Oh isn't that famous person?". He is also responsible for treating them as fictional characters even though they were real and had huge importance for the history and principally for the postmodernist perspective.

Fiction in Ragtime;

    As Doctorow keeps inserting historical characters and treating them as fictional, it is possible to notice grand fictional characters treated as historical persons/agents, isn't this odd ? The real question is why is there characters like Coalhouse, that haven't even exit, being treated more heroically than Emma Goldman? The answer to this event is that Doctorow is really not much interested if the characters are real or not, as we can see, real characters have their history and character marked and preserved not having space for change or creation. In the other hand, fictional characters can be created and modified through out the history, that means a lot for a writer such as Doctorow,  to create a character that represents symbolically something as Coalhouse does.

History X Fiction in Ragtime;

    Gathering all these ideas exposed on these blogs, it is surely possible to observe that Doctorow, as a talented writer that he is, loves to "play" with those concepts and explore it's barriers. He shows in his book that it's possible to mix these to areas and make great use of them by inserting a variety of historical characters and events together with fictional creations that truly engage the reader to read and understand what it's the significance between them. Here we can see some examples in some passages of the book.

-Houdini and the New Rochelle family: A real historical figure meets a fictional upper-middle-class family.

-Evelyn Nesbit and Tateh: The famous socialite interacts with a fictional Jewish immigrant and his daughter.

-Booker T. Washington and Coalhouse Walker Jr.: the historical reformer debates with a fictional radical pianist.

-Emma Goldman and Evelyn Nesbit: A real anarchist activist appears in an imagined intimate moment with a celebrity figure.