Roth: American Pastoral

Nathan Zuckerman imagined the Swede's life to be perfect. And the Swede tried to live up to this romanticized view of his life by trying to make it picture perfect; he lived that life until it became dark and violent. Was his life the essential American Dream, or was it a nightmare rather than a pastoral? What comment does the novel's title make upon the story it tells? Feel free to connect this to other texts we've read as well.

Please post your response no later than Monday, November 27.

Doctorow: Ragtime

In reading Doctorow's Ragtime we're given a controversial form of access to the past. By blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction, Doctorow pulls readers into a historical setting and enables us to identify quickly with the characters. This is certainly an effective technique for obvious reasons, but it's also true that any time a writer draws from "real life" or from history to create his or her characters, exactly what constitutes "truth" becomes the next question, one to which everyone has a different answer. As you can see, Doctorow takes great liberty in imagining alternative lives for historical figures. For instance, the interaction between Emma Goldman and Evelyn Nesbitt (and Younger Brother, hiding in the closet) is a bit racy, and the conversations between Pierpoint Morgan and Henry Ford are somewhat provocative as well.

So I'd like you to think about the idea of fact vs. fiction, and respond to Doctorow's method of storytelling and boundary blurring.

Please post your response no later than Saturday, November 11.