Ragtime

       There seems to be a large variety of responses concerning Doctorow's novel, Ragtime, and the message the author was trying to get across. What was he trying to convey with his depiction of Morgan, Ford, and Coalhouse? Did his narration style end up benefiting or hurting the final product? Was it a good idea to create Coalhouse Walker from Michael Kohlhass?
       Earlier, I posted about Doctorow's oddly detached, matter-of-fact style of narration and how I've never encountered it before. Rarely have I read a book in which the author kills off the characters with such little emotion or detail (although George R. R. Martin series A Song of Ice and Fire certainly comes close). During class discussions, some people made it clear that they disliked this, but I felt that it was rather appropriate for this book, a rendition of history designed to conceal the fictional elements that were included. Doctorow's straightforward "so-and-so died from this condition" really adds to his idea that there is no exact, definite way to tell history. Adding to this effect is his portrayal of Morgan and Ford. After listing several of their accomplishments, he grounds them, in a sense, by giving  them human dimensions like Ford's view of the "fancy paintings" or Morgan's near fanatical ravings of Egypt. Since all of these happenings were conveniently unknown by anyone but the people involved, Doctorow is able to use insinuate that these occurrences could have happened--we wouldn't know; we weren't there.
       Although I am not a stranger to historical fiction, I am more inclined towards fantasy and science fiction, so I can safely say that this is probably the first book that I've read that falls under the category of postmodern. Actually, "safely" probably isn't the right word to use since I'm still somewhat hazy on what qualifies as postmodern, but Ragtime certainly contains many elements that have a postmodern vibe to them. Perhaps the most apparent was his lifting of Michael Kohlhass from von Kleist and then incorporating his story into a world full of very real people like Morgan, Ford, and Houdini. This point also led to several conflicting arguments during class. Personally, I thought it worked well: if it had been a simple rehash of the original story, I doubt Ragtime would have been as successful, but because it incorporated so many new dynamics (such as Tateh, the Family, and the famous historical figures) it made itself a much more interesting novel, easily identifiable as postmodern.