E.L. DoctorowRagtime: A Novel

I've been a fan of this story for many decades in its forms of adaptation to film and the musical stage but finally decided to read the source material as I prepare to see two more productions of the musical this summer. Right from the opening sentence I see Terrence McNally's inspiration but am surprised by his final product from this book with several different focuses from the musical. I like Evelyn much more in the book and despise Father much more as well. Mother doesn't seem to get much to do here but J.P. Morgan is very fleshed out. Heck, it was 43% of the way thru the book before Sarah gets a name and that's only once Coalhouse comes calling. I am glad I finally jumped this hurdle. It wasn't nearly as imposing as I'd imagined. In less than three weeks I'll be crying my eyes out over the Ahrens and Flaherty score again.

I read the book when it originally was published, and after seeing a concert presentation of the musical based on the book, decided to read it once more. I enjoyed it more this time, and the passage of several decades added a richness to the story, with several eras having come and gone over that span of time. It seemed to me that while much has changed—good and bad—much has remained the same.

This was the first novel by E.L. Doctorow that I read - about 30 years ago. In more recent years, I have read four others; I liked each of them to varying degrees, but after each I mentally noted that it was not the equal of RAGTIME. I decided to check those mental notes and also perhaps gauge whether my tastes or critical facilities have evolved by re-reading the novel. Conclusion? I like RAGTIME even better now than I did half a lifetime ago.It is a great story, a mixture of fact and fiction set in the Ragtime era (roughly, 1906 to 1914) and centered in the New York City area. The novel evokes its period and place as well as the best historical fiction. It also spotlights what probably was the defining social issue of the time - the conflict between capital and labor, the wealthy and the poor. But what makes RAGTIME special is the narrative style: prose that is simple and pared down, yet taut and propulsive. While the story might have minor flaws, not so the prose. It is a stylistic tour de force.The central characters of the novel are all fictional. But a handful of historical figures - Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbit, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Booker T. Washington, and Charles S. Whitman - have significant roles in the novel and are each given highly imaginative character re-constructions. (The portrayal of J.P. Morgan in Chapter 19 - "He was a monarch of the invisible, transnational kingdom of capital whose sovereignty was everywhere granted." -- is superb.) And then there are a slew of additional historical figures who make cameo appearances, from Sigmund Freud to Admiral Peary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand to Big Bill Haywood, even Charles Victor Faust.RAGTIME, like almost all of Doctorow's novels, raises questions about how far should an author go in mixing fact and fiction, history and fantasy. In his most recent novel, "Homer & Langley", I thought Doctorow went too far, but I don't feel that way about RAGTIME, which arguably is even looser in its distortions of history. How can I explain that seeming contradiction? I think because the central characters of RAGTIME - the anonymous narrator and his family, Tateh and his daughter, and Coalhouse Walker, Jr. - are all clearly fictional. Given that, it is easier for me to accept that, yes, Emma Goldman could have been big sister to Evelyn Nesbit, J.P. Morgan could have discussed the secrets of life with Henry Ford, and Harry Houdini could have shown off his flying skills in his Voisin biplane to Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie.In any event, RAGTIME certainly should be read by anyone interested in the art of historical fiction, as well as, I think, anyone who wishes to be conversant with the best American fiction of the past half century.

An enjoyable and easy read that I’d recommend to just about anyone. I’m not sure why there is a word requirement that I’ve now reached.

I first read "Ragtime" twelve years ago, and loved it. It soared into my top ten list. I reread it recently for a book club, and I was disappointed. A lot has happened in the intervening years between the readings, and this work simply does not impress like I thought it would. First off, the novel is over praised to a ridiculous degree. Secondly, it has no real depth. It is a series of scenarios and vignettes with some cameos by historical figures thrown in for good measure. And the point of the text still eludes me. My book club is filled with college professors, English teachers, avid readers of immense education, and the novel fell flat, despite our best wishes for it not to. To appreciate this text, and to elevate its status, you have to project a lot onto it and I don't think that if a book is as profound as "Ragtime" supposedly is it should take so much work to make it seem good.Now, that is not to say that I did not enjoy this text. I enjoyed reading it very much. I just don't think there is all that much to it because I feel like the story and characters are very surface. And I believe that E.L. Doctorow did that on purpose, I just can't figure out why.I will praise the book's artistry. Doctorow does a lovely job of interweaving numerous fictional threads and historical figures in a mostly convincing manner. The book stylistically reads like a ragtime piano piece, and the beat of history and progress, and social evolution marches on relentlessly. I get it. But is there anything else sir? If not, the book does not have all that much to say.Also perplexing is what Doctorow intends to show through the characters. In the character of Younger Brother and the black maid Sarah, Doctorow seems to be knocking people who allow their emotional and physical well being to be determined by others. But especially in the character of Younger Brother he belabors this point for way too long, and it does not seem to connect with any other plotline in the text. So, the point is...? Another qualm is his characterization of "the boy". This young child has thoughts that are well beyond even the most intelligent small child, and since Doctorow uses this character to express some of his philosophical themes, it reads as very unbelievable because you don't buy that the kid is really having these thoughts. It reminds you of the author, and his intrusion disrupts the story (such as it is) and further detracts from the text.I am disappointed in "Ragtime". I wish I wasn't. If I read it again, knowing what I know now, I will probably enjoy it better for the simple fact that I won't expect much of it. Doctorow is a talented writer, and his "The March" is excellent and vivid historical fiction. Read it instead.

Ragtime is fizzing with mischievous energy and peopled by characters both fictional and real. It’s a kind of whimsical fiction based on fact. Characters in this homage to New York in the ragtime period include the mega-financier JP Morgan - so rich he envisages building his own pyramid in Egypt - and the escapologist Houdini. Part of the joy of the novel comes in figuring out what’s entirely fictional, and what contains a grain of truth, or more than a grain. It’s really a number of parallel plotlines involving a small group of key characters. The life of a factory owner’s family in New Rochelle is changed for ever after coming into contact with black ragtime musician called Coalhouse Walker, and his servant lover, Sarah. It’s a story of racism and vengeance at its core, but it’s tempered by wit, warmth, and love, and the prose is deceptively effortless. It reminded me of Paul Auster, although his sentences are admittedly a lot longer. There’s a wonderful economy and beauty to the simple writing style. If you liked it, try Doctorow’s clever gangster tale Billy Bathgate, which employs some of the same techniques, and for my money is more consistently entertaining than Ragtime - but this is an entrancing and brilliant novel.

While books usually come in recognisable, almost standardised, genres - thrillers, romances, vampire teen and so on - it’s difficult to place Ragtime. This strange book weaves a story around real and imagined characters from early twentieth century America. The closest you'd get to a classification is "historical fiction". It opens by introducing an ordinary middle class American businessman running a company making fireworks and patriotic bunting. Then we follow the story of a struggling artist and his daughter. These two threads merge with episodic tales involving escape artist Harry Houdini, society beauty Evelyn Nesbit, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, financier J.P. Morgan and carmaker Henry Ford.Even though this book is difficult to classify, I couldn’t help noticing that its unpredictable pages had many references to highly predictable and repetitive processes. There was Henry Ford for example, building a car every sixty seconds on his production line in Michigan. We go to baseball games and see repetitive sequences of play. In a conversation with Ford, J.P. Morgan talks about recurring patterns in the design of all lifeforms.Layered on top of this sense of repetition we have what Harold Macmillan might have referred to as “events, dear boy, events.” There is narrow-minded viciousness, with disastrous consequences. There is principled behaviour, which rather than bringing order, becomes destructive in its obsessiveness. There's also the age-old drive of group identification, which tears people apart even more powerfully than it pulls them together. The early twentieth century created mechanised mass production and the society built upon it. Nevertheless, modern life remains chaotic. This paradox drives Ragtime. It’s like a printing press casually churning out a book that a writer went through hell to write. Ragtime is a style of music based on the regularity of a march, but stressing the offbeat in such a way that the beat is intensified. Irregularity and regularity combine to give the excitement of this music’s overall effect. E.L. Doctorow’s remarkable novel works in the same way.

This is a clearheaded portrait of an era we've all heard so much about. Through Hollywood movies and general fiction we are lead to believe that Gangsters ruled and everyone was laughing, drinking and dancing but who swept the streets? Who baked the bread? Doctorow opens up a richer vision of an era by focusing on three families, one black, one Jewish and one white middle class. We still get a History through the headline acts, such as J.P.Morgan, Harry Houdini & Henry Ford but also of changing philosophies through feminism and emancipation as America exploded into the 20th Century. It should be read by every American teenager & adult! (if it's not already) and others besides. Now an established classic with good reason.

First published in the 1970s this is a brilliant, vivid, daring story of the ragtime era - a time that defines the American character with all its contradictions. Here real figures like Houdini, Freud, Ford and Emma Goldman mingle with a gallery of New Yorkers, from struggling immigrants to fifth avenue millionaires. Written in a short-sentence, rhythmic style echoing the style of the book's title, Ragtime is an unmissable classic from a giant of American contemporary literature.

Great novel but Penguin has re-published this novel in a poor photographic reprint edition. Shame on the cheapskates at Penguin!