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Tomovi Marko 485/05

Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

Ragtime as a Historiographic Metafiction Novel
This bestseller written by Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, as other works of postmodern
art like Rushdies, Barnes, Fowles and Swifts novels, threads the foggy path between
history and fiction, a path Linda Hutcheon named historiographic metafiction. Ragtime
presents itself as a historical novel but only imitates the genre to serve the authors purpose of
revealing genre limitations (Anca Farca 1). The binary opposition between history and
literature, assuming the attitude that the first represents truth (what happened) and the later
discusses fictional possibilities, exists since the days of Aristotle (Hutcheon 106). In the
chapter discussing historiographic metafiction Linda Hutcheon introduces the mentioned
term and explains that postmodern art has a contradictory approach to it. What postmodern
authors, Doctorow included, do is not taking sides or giving answers. They are showing us
that rather than having the true and untrue we have multiple truths depending on the
perspective. What we thusly get is an unresolved contradiction which problematizes the very
possibility of historical knowledge (Hutcheon 106).However, postmodern view of history
does not seek to destroy the worth of it but to open it up to the present by adapting it
(Hutcheon 110). Additionally, postmodern art advises against taking history as something
conclusive and teleological. Instead it tries to open it for interpretation because as time goes
by the attitudes and interpretations are bound to change (Hutcheon 110). History is nothing
but a written text, since it is kept in that form. What history and literature do have in common
is that both are representations of writers past which influence the content of their writing.
Summing up, what Linda Hutcheon says in A Poetics of Postmodernism is that
historiographic metafiction combines literature, history and theory to rethink and rework the
past (Anca Farca 2).
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Tomovi Marko 485/05
Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

The historical foundations of Ragtimes plot are set in the turn-of-the-century
America. The plot tells of several major social, economical and political changes from that
period through the lives of three families and the characters that comprise them. Mentioned
through the chapters are a middle-class white family, an African-American family (a couple
with a child to be more precise) and a Jewish emigrant, Tateh, with his daughter and his
deceased wife (who is only mentioned but never exists as a character). Besides fictional
characters we have some well-known historical figures of the time that greatly influenced
both the American and the world history. The families of this book, and the American society
they represent, are deconstructed with some of the characters removed and others undergoing
change, and then reconstructed into a new multi-ethnic family at the end of the book. This
new family is, like the new United States, comprised of various colours, religions and
ethnicities.
For the purpose of creating a historiographic metafiction Doctorow mixes in real
verifiable events with recreated histories and refabricates certain aspects of historical
characters lives (Anca Farca 3). Ragtime tells of an era of industrialization (Through Henry
Ford and J.P. Morgan) and inequality coupled with civil rights violations (through Coalhouse
Walker, his bride to be, Mothers Younger Brother and Tateh). The whole American nation
like the characters from Ragtime was undergoing a period of change and search for identity
during those years. However, American society had a way of rewarding only its critics who
take the less aggressive road, with the example of Tateh. In contrast to them, those on the
path of violence with inability to change or innovate like Coalhouse Walker or Mothers
Younger Brother suffer the most (Bergstrm 77). According to Doctorow himself: one of
the truths of radical life in America is that people convert from radicalism to use that same
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Tomovi Marko 485/05
Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

energy and genius to make themselves personally successful without losing the conviction
of still being radicals (Morris 117).
Tateh is a textbook example for this claim made by the author since he reinvents
himself from a factory worker to a film producer and aristocrat Baron Ashkenazy. From a
stubborn, working class idealist Tateh turns into a wealthy man after realising that no matter
what they do, society will always have a poor working class, something his experience in
America taught him. So, instead of letting his resentment take him on a negative path like it
did to Coalhouse and Mothers Younger Brother, Tateh uses his talents and his reached
understanding to advance himself and make a better life for his daughter. It can be considered
that the work he does (motion pictures) is an alternative version of peoples reality and
history and that Tateh shapes his own reality with what the art he creates but that side of the
story is not addressed a lot in the novel and is left to speculation.
Besides Tateh, Mother also changes her identity by remarrying. On the other hand,
Younger Brother is the only one who changes his physical self. Brother aims to renounce his
white man privileges and paints his face and dresses up like African-American members of
Coalhouses gang showing respect for their cause since, perhaps, he lacks application of his
energy to his own life when contrasted to Tateh. After loosing himself when his relationship
with Evelyn Nesbit ends, Younger Brother, in my opinion, stays lost and fights other mans
fights instead of fighting his until the end of the book.
To further the impression of change, Doctorow writes about it also happening in the
historical characters of the book, mainly Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan and Harry Houdini. These
first two characters are philosophical minds who try to unravel the order of life. Both have
their personal theories. In their conversation face-to-face Morgan says Suppose I could
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Tomovi Marko 485/05
Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

prove to you that there are universal patterns of order and repetition that give meaning to the
activity of this planet. Suppose I could demonstrate that you yourself are an instrumentation
in our modern age of trends in human identity that affirm the oldest wisdom in the world
(123). What he could mean by this is that there is a set of constants repeating through history
and that history is, in fact, repetitive and the key to furthering oneself and humanity is to
transcend those constants. Reincarnation is the only belief I hold some of us have just
lived more times than others (127) says Henry Ford. Natural thing to do as a reader after
hearing these two theories is to contrast them and by doing that we can see that Fords is not
so much different than Morgans since it also implies repetition through rebirth/reincarnation
and the repetition of peoples lives could be interpreted as repetition of those peoples
attitudes. Doctorow uses this set situation to make another statement, this time through irony.
He mocks the seriousness of Morgans attempts to unravel the mysteries of life by
juxtaposing them to beliefs Ford got in a book worth 25 cents (Anca Farca 7). Additionally,
the attention Ford pays to Morgans emotional and enthusiastic presentation is low and Ford
seems rather relaxed even contemplating his shoes carelessly, which furthers the irony to a
humorous level (Anca Farca 7). Last important detail regarding the meeting of Morgan and
Ford in the novel is that even though both are historical figures there is no concrete proof of
them ever discussing reincarnation or such philosophical matters (Anca Farca 7). This could
mean that Doctorow used them just as a tool towards historiographic metafiction in order to
give more factuality to ideas of change the American society was going through.
Another historical character from the book, Harry Houdini, who dies in the eyes of his
audience in the novel seems as though he practices some sort of an art of reincarnation. After
the death of his mother, when he returns to performing, the performances become so risky
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Tomovi Marko 485/05
Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

that it seems as though Houdini dies and is born again during each one. Naturally, he is an
amazing illusionist and performer without any magical powers but never the less, Houdini
succeeds to overcome a seemingly impossible situation in the eyes of his audience (Hague
173). It can be said that Houdini is a character who, solely through the abilities of an ordinary
but also hardworking and mentally strong individual, does what is considered impossible.
With that in mind a message that his character could have for readers of Ragtime is that
strength and possibilities are not simply predetermined but even achieved disregarding
predetermination through work and devotion. Also again, as a historical characters, his
message becomes stronger and carries more weight, in my personal experience as a reader.
Lastly, one more reincarnation worth mentioning is the one of Coalhouse Walker.
This character is not reincarnated through the plot like some previously mentioned ones but
through Doctorows inspiration and intertextuality. The author took the idea for a part of the
Ragtimes plot and this character from German author, Heinrich von Kleist who wrote
Michael Kohlhaas. In an interview, Doctorow admits that Coalhouse Walker was a
deliberate hommage and that he always knew he wanted to use Michael Cohlhass in some
way but he got the idea how to do it when his musician was driving up the Broadview
Avenue hill in his Model T Ford (Morris 124). Doctorow takes intertextuality to a new
length in this case because, in fact, von Kleists Michael Cohlhass was made through
intertextuality in the image of a medieval chronicle of history that mentions Hans Kohlhasen.
In Ragtime, Hans Kohlhasen is reincarnated through intertextual plagiarism of Cohlhass
(Anca Farca 8) or perhaps better said, in my opinion, intertextual inception. Kleists
Michael Cohlhass was adapted into American turn-of-the-century society by replacing the
horse he rides with Coalhouses car. Their struggle for justice is similar. Both are stopped on
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Tomovi Marko 485/05
Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

a road and swindled, with their precious means of transportation damaged extensively in the
process, which made them seek justice. After no official justice could be provided the two
turn to vigilantism, form gangs or militias and try to find revenge/justice on their own
which leads them both to (slightly different) deaths. Apart from these similarities, through the
process of adaptation, Coalhouse Walker has a bit of a Martin Luther King in him because he
represents the African-American fight for rights and equality that continues in the time when
Ragtime is set.
When it comes to narration, it does not follow an exact chronological or logical order
but rather jumps from one story to the other gradually knitting the pieces of the plot together.
Besides that, the identity of the omniscient narrator is hard to determine, so critics had
varying views on that matter. They start from the idea that narrator is the son of the white
family from New Rochelle (Anca Farca 4). Reason could be that the boy had a dose of
omniscience in the book, for example when he tells Houdini to warn Prince Ferdinand
(another historic figure) before the assassination. Also, the boy addresses the father of the
mentioned family with emotion at times which can be considered as proof of narrators
identity. Still some believe that narrator changes identities throughout the book or even that
the story tells itself in Ragtime (Anca Farca 4). Ragtimes narrator periodically leaves the
lives of characters to tell the story of some historical events from the Ragtime period which,
as mentioned in introduction, serves the purpose of creating the feeling that the reader has a
historical novel in his/her hands. The novel appears to be descriptive and factual at times but
the irony behind Doctorows writing makes it into more of an experiment (Anca Farca 4).
In conclusion, Ragtime is an ironic blend of fiction and history. The ideas, themes and
images which are talked about through fictional characters are intensified and made more
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Tomovi Marko 485/05
Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

real, so to speak, through the usage of historical figures from the Ragtime period. The
omniscient narrator takes us through the plot in such a way that after a while the historical
and fictional are so intertwined that there is no need to distinguish between the two.
Historical characters such are Houdini, Morgan, Ford, Emma Goldman and others are put to
use in situations they, most probably, historically never found themselves in to achieve an
impression in the reader and to make an experiment by the author play itself out. The
mentioned experiment could be to make a work which stands as a statement that history, like
Doctorows Ragtime is a construct and as such is open to interpretation and is only seemingly
factual and objective.












Works cited
Doctorow, Edgar Laurence. Ragtime. New York: Random House, 1975. Print.
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Tomovi Marko 485/05
Prof. Ivana uri Paunovi
Postmoderni Ameriki Roman
29 May 2014

Anca Farca, Paula. E. L. Doctorows Ragtime in the Context of Historiographic
Metafiction A Study. January 2013. IRWLE Vol. 9 No. I.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: Routledge, 1988. Print.
Walker Bergstrm, Catharine. Intuition of an Infinite Obligation: Narrative Ethics and
Postmodern Gnostics in the Fiction of E. L. Doctorow. Peter Lang, 2010. Print.
Morris, Christopher D. Conversations with E.L. Doctorow. Univ. Press of
Mississippi, 1999. Print.
Hague, Angela. Ragtime and the Movies. Critical Essays on E. L. Doctorow. Ed.
Ben Siegel. New York: Hall, 2000. 166-76.