Historiography In E. L. Doctorow's Homer And Langley

Edgar Lawrence Doctorow(1931-2015), one of the most accomplished and acclaimed writers in America, shows his concerns about history in many of his works and Homer and Langley(2009) is a story on the Collyer brothers, through which a picture of the 20 th century American history is presented. Through the analysis of Doctorow's retrospection of the American history hidden in the past and his construction of the macro-history through the ordinary people, this thesis aims to explore Doctorow's historical consciousness and human concerns about the ordinary people.First, this thesis analyzes Doctorow's retelling of the history of Collyer brothers Homer and Langley whose story had been written by some other writers. This thesis argues that Doctorow shows his responsibility as a writer in revealing the hidden history through combining personal experience with national history. Then, Doctorow's representation of the wars in twentieth century American history is discussed. Digging into the background of World War II and Anti-war Peace Movement by illustrating the experiences of the marginalized people, Doctorow discloses that wars bring similar sufferings to different people and advocates people to face the untold history. Finally, the thesis explores Doctorow's representation of the history of the American immigrants. I argue that the representation of the living condition and belief of the immigrants indicate Doctorow's sympathy and human concerns towards the immigrants.In a word, Doctorow admits that the ordinary people play an important role in history. In addition, he perfectly combines the history with text, fiction with facts and breaks the boundary between fiction and facts, which makes the history readable and artistic. The historiography in Homer and Langley also tells us that we should take history as a mirror and look forward to the future.