E. L. Doctorow
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Image:DoctorowBackCover.jpg Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (born January 6, 1931, New York, New York) is the author of several critically acclaimed novels that blend history and social criticism. Currently, he holds the Glucksman Chair in American Letters at New York University.
Doctorow was raised in the Bronx, New York, by parents of second-generation Russian Jewish descent. At the Bronx High School of Science, he excelled in art making. Doctorow was a voracious reader and continued his education at Kenyon College where he studied with John Crowe Ransom. After graduating in 1952, he was drafted into the army and assigned to Germany. He began his career as a reader at Columbia Pictures, moved on to become an editor for New American Library in the early 1960s and worked as chief editor at Dial Press from 1964 to 1969. Although he had written books for years, it was not until the publication of The Book of Daniel in 1971 that he obtained acclaim. His next book, Ragtime was a superb commercial and critical success.
He delivered a commencement address critical of President George W. Bush at Hofstra University on May 23, 2004.
Works
- (1960) Welcome to Hard Times
- (1966) Big As Life
- (1971) The Book of Daniel. Nominated for a National Book Award, it fictionalized the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 for giving nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
- (1975) Ragtime. After receiving the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and the Arts and Letters Award, it was transformed into a film (Ragtime (film)) in 1980 and a musical (Ragtime (musical)) in 1998.
- (1979) Drinks Before Dinner (play)
- (1980) Loon Lake
- (1982) American Anthem
- (1984) Lives of the Poets: Six Stories and a Novella
- (1985) World's Fair. Received the 1986 National Book Award.
- (1989) Billy Bathgate. Nominated for the Pulitzer and won the PEN/Faulkner award. Made into a major motion picture in 1991, which Doctorow--along with most of those involved in its production-- has disowned.Template:Citeneeded
- (1994) Waterworks
- (2000) City of God (novel)
- (2003) Reporting the Universe (nonfiction)
- (2004) Sweet Land Stories
- (2005) The March, which on Mar 3, 2006, was awarded the National Book Critics' Circle award for fiction
References
- Arana-Ward, Marie. (April 17, 1994). "E. L. Doctorow". The Washington Post, p. X6.
External links
- New York State Writers Institute: E. L. Doctorow
- E. L. Doctorow Wins the PEN/Faulkner Award 2006
- The Unfeeling President Doctorow's comments on George W. Bush
- "Billy Bathgate Discussion With EL Doctorow" - from Nov. 30, 2004
- BookTalk.org Online Book Discussion
- 1986 audio interview with E. L. Doctorow by Don Swaim of CBS Radio - RealAudiocs:Edgar Lawrence Doctorow