July 21, 2015
E. L. Doctorow - Gone But Not Forgotten
 
 
E.L. Doctorow, the renowned author of "Ragtime" and many other works of historical fiction and nonfiction, has died. He was 84.
He died Tuesday at a hospital in New York of complications from lung cancer, his son, Richard Doctorow, told the Los Angeles Times.
Doctrow's books included "Ragtime," which was adapted into a film and a Broadway musical, and "World's Fair," which won the National Book Award in 1986.
 
"Ragtime," which four decades after its initial publication remains his best-known work, weaves historical figures such as architect Stanford White, White’s lover, Evelyn Nesbit, and anarchist Emma Goldman into the fabric of its fiction to create a three-dimensional pastiche of
turn-of-the-20th-century America.
 
A novelist, Doctorow told the Times in 2006, "partakes of many identities. People say to me, 'A lot
of your novels take place in the past. Are you a historical novelist?' I don't think of myself that way, but if you want to call me that, go ahead. Then someone will say, 'There's a certain political quality to a lot of your work. Would you call yourself a political novelist?' And I'll say, 'I've never thought of myself as a political novelist, but if that suits you, why not?' And then someone will say, 'You're a Jewish novelist' -- and yes, I guess that's true, too. So I accept any kind of identity. I'm willing to participate in all of them, as long as none claims to be an exhaustive interpretation."
In addition to his son, Doctorow is survived by his wife, Helen Setzer; daughters Jenny Doctorow Fe-Bornstein and Caroline Doctorow Gatewood; and four grandchildren.
 
Ragtime
by E. L. Doctorow

Recounts the interrelated early twentieth-century lives of the families of a New Rochelle manufacturer, an immigrant socialist, and a Harlem musician and their involvement with Evelyn Nesbit, Henry Ford, Houdini, Morgan, Freud, Zapata, and other period notables
The march : a novel
by E. L. Doctorow

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas during the final years of the Civil War has a profound impact on the outcome of the war, in a richly textured, evocative historical novel that captures the full experience of the diverse characters caught up in the struggle. 150,000 first printing.
Andrew's brain : a novel
by E. L. Doctorow

A deeply psychological tale by the award-winning author of Billy Bathgate recounts the experiences of Andrew, who confesses to an unknown recipient the memory- and truth-challenging events, loves and tragedies that have led him to a mysterious act.
Creationists : selected essays, 1993-2006
by E. L. Doctorow

In a new collection of essays, the award-winning author of The March and Ragtime offers a series of reflections on the nature of imagination and creativity, looking at diverse forms of creative endeavor--from the literary and scientific to the comic and cosmic--as well as on his own creative process in his writings. 35,000 first printing.
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