E. L. Doctorow | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 3 pages of analysis & critique of E. L. Doctorow.
Related Topics

E. L. Doctorow | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 3 pages of analysis & critique of E. L. Doctorow.
This section contains 606 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Review by Michael Wutz

SOURCE: A review of The Waterworks, in Review of Contemporary Fiction, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring, 1995, pp. 177-78.

In the following review, Wutz outlines the elements of The Waterworks and considers its place in Doctorow's oeuvre.

An almost uncanny ability to reconstruct historical material and a spellbinding facility to tell a good tale—these are the qualities that have made E. L. Doctorow one of America's most distinguished literary practitioners and the qualities that are again evident in The Waterworks, a fascinating science-detection mystery centered in post-bellum New York City. Framed by the atmospherics of a city bulging out of its seams, the novel tells the story of young Martin Pemberton, a caustic free-lance literary critic, who claims to have seen his deceased father in a city omnibus. The ensuing search, told in the form of a memoir by a newspaper editor named McIlvaine, plunges Martin into the city's dark...

(read more)

This section contains 606 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Review by Michael Wutz
Copyrights
Gale
Critical Review by Michael Wutz from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.