There is a romanticization that comes for a past that we all haven't lived. It is a time so unlike ours that it seems simpler, has fewer problems, and is overall greater. There is a desire to escape from the present and wander those streets. While E.L. Doctorow doesn't set out to burn down that notion, he seeks to turn fiction into a historical look at what America looked like at the turn of the 20th century. As chintzy as it has become through media manipulation, often set to Scott Joplin's titular music style, it was a dangerous time. In a time prior to World War I, America was a land of spectacle but also of murder, racism, corruption, misogyny, and xenophobia as they tried to make the melting pot into something more palatable. The reality was far more complicated than that and what Doctorow does is tear down the veil, creating something more realistic, and giving audiences one of the most entertaining points of view imaginable. Its history brought to life, placing the reader at the ground level in ways that only the best writers can.
What is "Ragtime" about? It's more difficult to answer what it isn't about. The story ends on a high note as every piece of story comes together to reveal how the world was about to change. The most noteworthy plot beats include the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the antics of magician Harry Houdini. There is talk of economics, women's rights, and the freedom of African American citizens. So much of the story reflects the building blocks of what America had become by the time that Doctorow came along in the 1970s and wrote this novel. Everything is treated with equal scrutiny, as paragraphs roll on for pages on end, where dialogue loses its punctuation in favor of flowing like a singular text. Everyone is the same. Everyone who enters these pages is a part of America.
Which raises a lot of questions over the course of the story that preceded. Why must there be conflicts that are often pulled from trivial moments, such as a car accident that leads to an anarchist group committing crimes? Small things build, with major moments flowing in and out of focus, where prostitution and murder are sidetracked by moments about the immigrant experience and then racism. There's so much going on that it's daunting to think of how Doctorow compiled every piece in such a way that they all felt like fictional characters. However, anyone who knows their history will know that they are real. Houdini was really this magician who performed for the working class and was adored by Barnum & Baily's sideshow freaks. It's a time with so much culture and diversity that many novels can be written on any single chapter in this book. It's the only disappointing part of the book, as it teases how much more full American history is than we give it credit for.
"Ragtime" is often considered a touchstone for the historical fiction novels, though it can barely be called that. If anything, the point of view is the only thing that's fictional. Everything else pops with so much familiarity that one can imagine the sidewalk that these characters walked on or the courtrooms where people fought for justice. It's more than a series of rambling facts. It shows how every life impacted the foundation of the 20th century, where rich people discussing the Illuminati can be as respected as aging prostitutes dealing with unruly clients. Everything is equal, and it makes one want to learn more about this time in history. Then again, everyone else would make it cut and dry. Doctorow somehow makes it enticing and meaningful, turning history into a full-on drama that shows that even if some of the outfits and trends are outdated, they're still relevant to the modern moment. Things have improved, but the struggle to be better never goes out of style.
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