Tuesday, July 21, 2015

E. L. Doctorow, R. I. P.

Author E. L. Doctorow dead at 84: Author E.L. Doctorow, who wrote "Ragtime" and "Billy Bathgate," has died. He was 84.

Hat tip to Deb.

17 comments:

George Kelley said...

I read RAGTIME and BILLY BATHGATE and a couple more of Doctorow's books. I even saw a play version of RAGTIME.

Jeff Meyerson said...

We saw RAGTIME too, George. And of course I read the book, as well as WELCOME TO HARD TIMES (which would make a good forgotten film, Bill - you can't go wrong with Aldo Ray).

Jeff

mybillcrider said...

I've read WELCOME TO HARD TIMES, but I never saw the movie.

Jeff Meyerson said...

I can't believe you missed one. Aldo Ray!

Jeff

Deb said...

I thought his novel based on the lives of the infamous Collyer brothers (hoarders extraordinaire who both eventually died in ways related to their hoarding) was excellent. I don't remember if it was called LANGLEY AND HOMER or HOMER AND LANGLEY (I'm on a phone and don't want to click out of here and go look it up) but it was a great book.

mybillcrider said...

It would hit too close to home for me, I'm afraid.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Homer & Langley.

I'll have to look it up. The Collyer Brothers were a major part of my childhood as my mother referenced them frequently in conversation (along with Coxey's Army, among other things).

I did read Franz Lidz's book GHOSTY MEN: The Strange But True Story of The Collyer Brothers, New York's Greatest Hoarders.

Jeff

mybillcrider said...

My mother made frequent reference to Coxey's Army. I never knew what she was talking about until I took history class in high school.

Deb said...

Doctorow undoubtedly takes a few liberties with the facts, but he makes a very smart move having the blind brother narrate the story so that the "visuals" of hoarding (with which we're all familiar) are filtered through his other senses. Anyway, fwiw, I thought it was one of his best books.

Deb said...

Also, I'd never heard of Coxley's Army until just now and had to look it up--which is karma paying me back because I was feeling so smug about being the only person out to dinner with friends last night who knew what the Donner Party was.

mybillcrider said...

My grandfather's name was Cox, so I always thought my mother was saying "Cox's Army."

Jeff Meyerson said...

She would always talk about "having enough food to feed Coxey's Army."

That was certainly true of her refrigerator.

Jeff

Jeff Meyerson said...

Bill, maybe your mother did mean Cox'sa Army.

I must admit that was new to me.

Jeff

Jeff Meyerson said...

Cox's

mybillcrider said...

She could have been punning. She did have a sense of humor.

Don Coffin said...

I always thought he should have won a Nobel at some point. The Book of Daniel was the first of his I read. Ragtime, of course, is brilliant, as is Billy Bathgate. Homer and Langley is also terrific.

mybillcrider said...

Book of Daniel was also the first one I read. Then Ragtime and Welcome to Hard Times, which got a paperback reprint because of Ragtime, I think.