Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Stephen Cooper

SOURCE: "Cutting Both Ways: E. L. Doctorow's Critique of the Left," in South Atlantic Review, Vol. 58, No. 2, May, 1993, pp. 111-25.

In the following essay, Cooper examines the political concerns of Doctorow's work.

The experimental, "postmodern" elements in E. L. Doctorow's novels are remarked upon by virtually all his critics. In most of his major novels the narrative voice is self-conscious and calls attention to itself. In his first novel, Welcome to Hard Times (1960), the narrator Blue is writing his story in old ledgers and reflects on his penchant, even obsession, for record keeping and wonders if the truth of events can be captured in words. Daniel Isaacson, the narrator of The Book of Daniel (1971), begins his highly self-conscious story by commenting on his writing instrument (a felt-tip marker), moves back and forth in time, frequently shifts from first- to third-person narrative, and interpolates numerous historical...
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