E.L.Doctorow’s Multi-dimensional Concept Of History In Ragtime

Ragtime (1975) is American novelist E.L.Doctorow’s forth work and one of his representative works. The novel demonstrates to readers a period of history known as "Ragtime" through three family units "white","black","gray" and their lives in the first decade of the20th century, during which Doctorow examines the issues of history. The author explores history by way of music, Doctorow believes that history should be presented at liberty just like multi-voice music, which means everyone is responsible for history and enjoys their rights about history simultaneously. In the post-modern context everyone should be heard. It is not only necessary, but imperative to establish a multi-dimensional concept of history.The thesis consists of three parts. Chapter one analyses characteristics of Ragtime music which is its Aggregation-Discrete form in the first place. The novel reveals that this Aggregation-Discrete form has a profound impact on the novel’s linguistic style, text structure, unfolding of the plot and furthermore, as a central imagery of the novel Ragtime music, it plays a critical role in metaphorizing history. Chapter two summarizes types of escapers who want to escape from the control of history and points out that it is due to obstruction of the authority and on a deeper level, disciplines of historical order that cause the escapers’ failure. Chapter three focuses on history itself. Our independent understanding of the history has been disenfranchised and replaced by a unified view of history for a long time, because of this the myth of history comes onto stage and directs multitudinous disasters, so in the hope of accomplishing a balance between human beings and history, realizing maximum freedom in history, it is necessary to emphasize a multi-dimensional concept of history.