Analyzing Homer And Langley From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Homer and Langley is one of the best works that E.L. Doctorow has created. Inheriting Doctorow’s consistent writing style of combining history and fiction, it writes about the life tracks of Collyer brothers from 1910 s to late 1970 s in New York. On one hand, it is based on the real case of Collyer brothers in history and major historical events during this period are reflected. On the other hand, a lot of fictional figures are created to interact with the brothers, whose state of life and state of mind act as a mirror of history. The grand history is expressed through the specific individual lives of characters, presenting the audience a different interpretation of history.With an eye on the relationship between history and fiction, history and literature, new historicism is adopted as the theoretical framework of the thesis. The textuality of history and the historicity of text are the main theoretical fulcrum. Generally speaking, by “textuality of history”, it is mainly manifested through the whole picture of history in the first half of the 20 th century that Doctorow has created. History is only a kind of narrative and interpretation. It is neither absolute nor unique. In the case of Homer and Langley, it is an individual interpretation of history by Doctorow. By “historicity of text”, Homer and Langley is a piece of literary work conditioned by the background of the writer’s life. And it can reflect the real history during this period. The combined analysis of theory and text is categorized into the three chapters of the thesis.The first chapter mainly focuses on the “history” part, in which real historical events and Collyer brothers are described. In the meantime, Doctorow’s rewriting is discussed to explore the fictional part. In the second chapter, the metaphorical meanings of the articles, behaviors and figures are explored and their enlightening meanings are probed. Meanwhile, the third chapter mainly centers on the relationship between history and the individual, arriving at the conclusion that history imposes its effects on the individual and the individual cannot escape from history. In the end, a conclusion is drawn that Doctorow creates and invents as much as he extracts materials from history. Homer and Langley not only sheds light on a new interpretation of history, but also enlightens the lifestyle of modern people.