E. L. Doctorow

by Briana Albright,
LBPH Reader Advisor

Yesterday we lost an American great. E. L. Doctorow (1931-2015) was an author, essayist, and leading figure in contemporary letters. The author of a dozen novels, three collections of short fiction, a stage drama, and numerous essays and commentary on literature and politics, Doctorow was best known for his genre-bending blend of fiction and fact.

Back in 2013, I attended a reading by Doctorow of his then forthcoming novel, Andrew’s Brain. I hadn’t read much Doctorow at the time, but the experience of hearing what was sure to be another great novel read by its author produced in me a strong desire to run home and read everything he’d ever written.

Doctorow was prolific. His novels fictionalize events and figures of 20th-century America, blending history and myth in a way that subtly subverts the dichotomy of fact and fiction. Since hearing Doctorow read from his last novel, Andrew’s Brain, I’ve read three more of his novels and found that I enjoyed each more than the last. Luckily, almost all of his novels have been recorded by the NLS and are available from us here at LBPH or for download from BARD. Discover Doctorow in some of the titles below:

Andrew’s Brain
DB 78414
Andrew, a cognitive scientist, recites the details of his life to Doc, a psychologist. Andrew reflects on his life and failings as a husband and father and questions if he has failed as a human being. Some descriptions of sex. 2014.

Homer & Langley
DB 69642 / CL 13827
Homer Collyer, the blind brother, and his older brother Langley, a WWI mustard-gas victim, become recluses in their Fifth Avenue brownstone, hoarding newspapers and collecting odd things – a model T Ford, typewriters, and surplus Army supplies–until they become imprisoned by their vast accumulations. Bestseller. 2009.

Ragtime
DB 44378 / CL 1123
A story set in 1906 New York that incorporates luminaries of the period, including Theodore Roosevelt, Sigmund Freud, and Emma Goldman. A ragtime musician from Harlem falls victim to racist vandalism and seeks redress through violence. Strong language, violence, and some descriptions of sex. 1974.

The March
DB 60676 / CL 12715
This Civil War saga portrays the complex nature of General William Tecumseh Sherman as he leads Union troops through Georgia and the Carolinas. Describes the carnage and destruction that occur as well as the tender feelings that arise as the soldiers proceed. 2005.

Kafkaesque

by Tom Sweterlitsch,
LBPH Reader Advisor

The other day I was bothered by a side stitch on my left side, towards my back—probably just a muscle cramp from sleeping wrong or from the way I’d been slumped in my desk chair that morning—but as I walked to lunch I imagined the pain was some sort of festering internal wound and was reminded of Gregor Samsa, Franz Kafka’s character in The Metamorphosis.

One of the most studied characters in world literature, Gregor Samsa is famous for waking up one morning to discover he has been transformed into a “monstrous vermin,” popularly imagined as a giant cockroach. As Samsa worries about how he’ll complete his work as a traveling salesman, and as his relationship with his family falters, the fantastical predicament of changing into an insect deepens into a metaphor about alienation in the modern world. In one crucial scene, Gregor Samsa’s father, seeing his son as a cockroach in the kitchen, hurls apples at him to drive him away. One the apples lodges in a soft spot in Gregor’s back and festers there, never fully healing.

Born in 1883 in Prague, and only living until the age of forty-one when he died of starvation, a complication of his tuberculosis, Franz Kafka is one of the most influential writers in Western literature. His work is responsible for helping to shape the visions of Existential writers such as Sartre and Camus, the puzzle-like work of Borges and the science fiction of J.G. Ballard. Kafka’s stories are dreamlike and strange, often nightmarish in their portrayal of alienation in the modern world, with many of his characters negotiating labyrinthine social structures in search of fulfilling relationships.

If you’re interested in Kafka, I recommend starting with his complete short stories and his novel The Trial, then work your way through his remaining works.

Complete Stories
DB/RC 46132
Twenty of Kafka’s longer stories make up most of this collection, followed by fifty-five short stories and sketches. Included are all the stories published during his lifetime (1883-1924) and several others selected from his literary estate.  1971.

The Trial
DB/RC 49000
On his thirtieth birthday, Josef K., a conscientious bank official, is arrested in his lodgings on unstated charges. He is constantly thwarted in his attempts to clarify his situation even in court. A new translation by Breon Mitchell based on the restored 1914 text. 1998.

The Castle
DB/RC 49126
An allegory of the human struggle against an illogical bureaucracy. A land surveyor, known only as K, is constantly frustrated in his attempts to gain entrance into a mysterious castle, which is administered by an extraordinarily complicated and inaccessible bureaucratic hierarchy. 1998.

Amerika
DB/RC 46668
First written in German in 1927, this novel expresses the author’s rejection of the capitalist system. Karl Rossmann, a young immigrant to America, is snubbed by his relatives, robbed by tramps, and ridiculed in his attempt to find work. Includes an introduction by E.L. Doctorow. 1938.

Remember, many if not all of the DB titles highlighted here are available through the NLS’s BARD downloadable site, or through special order. Please contact us today if you have any questions regarding either service that is available to you!