Sonore legnate & rumorose fucilate

Ragtime is a perfect title to tell the changing times in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. It is the music of that era. Although I don't like it, it has paved the way for jazz and also for the affirmation of black musicians.

The transatlantic ships, in third class, unload thousands of European immigrants who are trying to find a job and accommodation. They come from miserable conditions, which are conscientiously described to us. Doctorow probably knew what he was saying, as his grandparents were Russian Jews.

The working class begins to organize and receive sonore legnate from the police. The blacks start to become aware of their rights and receive rumorose fucilate from the police.

Doctorow tells all this in a rather brilliant way, borrowing many important characters from history. I liked the bourgeois lady and the Russian Jew with the child, who represent the best part of humanity, because they are animated by good feelings or at least by positivity. The main character, the ragtime player, I didn't like at all. However, he is interesting because he is an example of a pernicious idealist who loves his principles more than people. In this case, he shows more respect for his dignity and for the car than for the woman and the child.

If one can manage to avoid suffering with the characters, it is an excellent historical fresco and the appearance of Woodrow Wilson, Henry Ford, Houdini, Freud, Emma Goldman is perfectly integrated, helping to create a realistic and temporal background. While reading, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay came to my mind. I believe that Chabon has taken various things, from Houdini to Freud to the elaborate adventures.

When we peruse history books, we are presented with a rather broad perspective of a complex tapestry of interconnected events.

What Doctorow accomplished with "Ragtime" was to take a magnifying glass to that intricate tapestry, enabling the reader to obtain a much, much closer examination of certain events that we believed we were acquainted with.

Consequently, it is somewhat challenging to summarize. We follow several episodes in the lives of an Upstate New York family and how their existence is intertwined with such renowned figures as Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, and others.

The writing style is extremely simple and uncluttered, which renders "Ragtime" a quick read, and it also strikes a very agreeable storytelling tone.

However, that tone is also a bit impersonal. While I relished this visit to early 20th-century America, I'm not certain that I adored it. I never truly felt transported to the setting, nor was I especially invested in the stories of the various characters.

This is rather strange because I am captivated by that time period. To be frank, this might very well be a case of "it's not you, it's me," as I picked up this book after reading two rather astonishing books, to keep myself occupied during a grueling work retreat.

I was definitely not in my optimal mental state, and that might have influenced my reading experience. I might revisit this one someday, simply to determine if it is indeed me or if it is the book.

The author was standing between two carriages of the first morning train going to New Rochelle, thinking of throwing himself onto the rails. He heard the steady rhythm, the clatter of the wheels, the same rhythm as when playing ragtime with the left hand on the piano. The screeching and the clangs of the metals joining the two carriages were the disjointed melody of the right hand. The rag of suicide.

I got to know this important author through this book many years ago. As part of my personal project to read all his books in chronological order, I picked it up again. Although I remembered the plot quite well, this led to a mini-book slump because after a rather rich three-month reading period, I didn't even want to touch a book. After a 10-day break, I started it again and this time I was drawn into the wonderful rhythm of his writing, which really resembles ragtime that flourished from the late 19th century to the years of the First World War.

Like he did in his previous book, The Book of Daniel, Doctorow takes a number of historical figures and has them interact with his fictional heroes, who consist of a family of citizens who make their money by manufacturing patriotic flags (“Patriotism was the most reliable emotion of the era,” the author says in the first paragraph of the book), a black family that faces the mindless stupidity of the local racists, and finally a socialist Jewish immigrant from Latvia who decides to offer as much as he can to his suffering daughter by entering the new world of the cinema.

The book is an excellent portrayal of the era, a text that still retains the revolutionary nature of Doctorow's narrative art today and the reader cannot but be drawn into the wonderful rhythm I mentioned above. On the pages of the book, important personalities come to life, but above all, Coontz (chapter 27 is all his and is one of the best in the book) and the unforgettable Emma Goldman. Equally impressive are the descriptions of the metaphysical anxieties of the millionaire G. P. Morgan, the snobbery of Ford who brings the revolution to the automobile industry, and the obsession of the beautiful Nesbit with the Latvian Tateh's family. Behind the book, of course, lies Doctorow's impressive research and any reader who embarks on the process of finding out what is a real fact and what is a product of the American author's imagination will appreciate the book even more for the simplest reason that it is almost flawless.

Finally, the Greek translation is excellent and retains the vividness of the original, although the book was published in Greek in 1993. Fortunately, the rather few editorial-correction errors do not mar the final result.

It is, however, a pity that the domestic reading public has demonstratively turned its back on what is probably the greatest historical fiction author we will ever meet.

4.5*/5

https://youtu.be/pMAtL7n_-rc

Rather than simply being about ragtime music, this novel is deeply inspired by it.

It tells the story of an upper middle class white family in New Rochelle, New York, and their black servant, her daughter, and lover, during the decade before the Great War. The hero, a black musician named Coalhouse Walker Junior, is not introduced until the midway point of the novel.

Coalhouse Walker, the lover and fiance of the unnamed family's maid, Sarah, drives his brand new Ford from Harlem into New Rochelle. There, a group of firemen block his way and, as a racist prank, splatter it with mud, tear its cloth top, and even defecate in the back seat. Walker protests to the police, only to be arrested. He is later bailed out by the father of the family, who has recently returned from the Arctic as a member of the Peary Expedition.

Virtually all of the plot unfolds in the second part of the novel as Walker fights for justice. However, to focus solely on the plot is to miss a great deal of what Doctorow is trying to convey. He employs an unorthodox narrative style, a blend of fact and fiction that reads like a fable. This device allows for a great deal of social observation and the introduction of many real historical people, each of whom the author赋予 his own completely unhistorical twists.

Like Houdini, who makes frequent appearances, Doctorow knows that his audience enjoys being deceived. His departures from historical fact are not only forgiven but are indeed welcome, funny, and relevant.

He quotes Scott Joplin’s epitaph…

Do not play this piece fast. It is never right to play Ragtime fast.

Similarly, it would not be appropriate to read this novel hastily.

Here’s a clip that I hope showcases how wonderful his writing is..

The immigration officials changed the names they couldn’t pronounce and tore people from their families, consigning to a return voyage old folks, people with bad eyes, riffraff and also those who looked insolent. Such power was dazzling. The immigrants were reminded of home. They went into the streets and were somehow absorbed in the tenements. They were despised by New Yorkers. They were filthy and illiterate. They stank of fish and garlic. They had running sores. They had no honour and worked for next to nothing. They stole. They drank. They raped their own daughters. They killed each other casually. Among those who despised them were the second-generation Irish, whose fathers had been guilty of the same crimes. Irish kids pulled the beards of old Jews and knocked them down. They upended the pushcarts of Italian peddlers.

The presence of conflicting and diverse emotions was evoked in me.

Perhaps at the beginning of the book, we are faced with a jumble and a scribble of a pen. It reminded me of a series called "The White State" that didn't have much special to say but filled people's time by appealing to the listener's nostalgia and mentioning every sea that reminded the listener of memories.

What a story it is that can have Houdini, but also Goldman, Freud, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, and even Franz Ferdinand (of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) at the same time?

An interesting part of the story is that the reader doubts whether the story is real or not. The characters are real in history, but why haven't I read about these things elsewhere? And then it becomes clear that Dr. Love's art is that he has intertwined reality and story so intricately that one can't trust anything, and that's why the book can be read more easily and doesn't feel difficult.

For me, as a history lover, part of the book was disturbing. And if I didn't know any of these characters or events, I would definitely be faced with a fictional story and enjoy reading it quickly. Even at one point, I was angry with the author for not showing mercy to any historical event in his narrative! But in a way, I admired his wisdom and ingenuity in weaving these raw materials.

If I were to talk about the book in general, it is an enjoyable and smooth story that gives a cinematic feeling in a way. That is, the characters are very beautifully drawn and detailed, and sometimes they pass by each other and suddenly the narrative of the story changes and focuses on that one character. The story can also be read very superficially as a short novel, or it can be delved into deeply because there are many characters and events, each of which can have a lot of implied information. Also, many symbols and slogans about war, racism, capitalism, anarchism, industry, and technological progress can be seen in the parts of the book.

The translation is also fairly good and with feeling.

(Book 335 from 1001 books) - Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow

Ragtime is a remarkable novel penned by E. L. Doctorow and published in 1975. This work of historical fiction is primarily set in the New York City area from 1902 until 1912, with brief glimpses towards the end描绘了美国在1917年加入第一次世界大战的情景。

The novel revolves around a wealthy family residing in New Rochelle, New York. They are simply named Father, Mother, Mother's Younger Brother, Grandfather, and 'the little boy', who is the young son of Father and Mother. The narrator remains unidentified throughout the story.

The family's business is the manufacturing of flags and fireworks, which is a lucrative source of wealth due to the nation's enthusiasm for patriotic displays. Father embarks on the first expedition to the North Pole, and upon his return, a change occurs in his relationship with his wife, who has experienced a sense of independence during his absence.

Mother's Younger Brother is a genius in explosives and fireworks but is an insecure and unhappy character who constantly chases after love and excitement. He becomes infatuated with the notorious socialite Evelyn Nesbit, stalking her through the city and eventually engaging in a brief and unsatisfactory affair with her, which leaves him even more isolated.

The title "Ragtime" refers to a type of jazz music that originated from the songs of African-American slaves in America. The word "rag" means lively, fragmented, and disjointed, while "time" refers to the rhythm and beats of music. The author intends to convey the quality of a story that is disjointed, continuous, and full of pain to the reader.

In the story "Coalhouse Walker," Ragtime plays a significant role. The real-life historical counterpart of Coalhouse is a black man named Scott Joplin, who invented Ragtime. He has a famous saying: "Don't play this piece too fast; it's not right to play Ragtime fast." It is a recommendation to feel the pain; read Ragtime slowly and enjoy it. Mr. Doctorow has woven a wonderful lie. Edgar Lawrence Doctorow once said: "This world is made for liars, and we writers are born liars; but people must believe us because we are the only ones who admit that our profession is lying; so this means that only we are honest!" Doctorow is right; he is one of the best liars. He has written a story in which he has narrated a part of a country's history, but he has done it so skillfully that no one believes it. He has drawn the story from himself. To truthfully express his vivid lies, he has not even neglected the secondary news of the newspapers of that time and has written a book full of real details. Perhaps Doctorow's words in Ragtime pose this fundamental question: "Do we make history or does history make us?" And perhaps also this word: "History is a type of literature." Whichever it is, Ragtime absorbs all the strange people from history. They reveal the details of America in the process of industrialization and do something with you that you don't even want to skip reading the technical details of Henry Ford's mechanization. Ragtime, with the excellent translation of Mr. Najaf Daryabandari and a simple appearance, and of course, a charming font, is a mixture of events and the actions of real and fictional characters and a worldly world. People like Henry Ford and others, the beginning of events from the early years of the 20th century until the end of World War I, is historical information and the American spirit.

The date of synchronization is 24/06/1399 Hijri Shamsi; 29/05/1400 Hijri Shamsi; A. Sharbiani

Why would an author write a book that is not strictly historical or just fantastic ten years after the described period, but mix genres? Obviously, it is not for the restoration of some pages of history in a fictional narrative. Doctorow created this complex, contradictory novel to reevaluate this historical period, which, due to the saturation of technological changes, socio-economic, labor, interracial relations, the growth of revolutionary sentiments, culminating in the bloodiest world war, needed to be aware that many modern problems have their roots in that time, and to consider them from a different perspective.

Child labor, the plight of the "poor", protest actions from anarchists to communists and socialists, the monopolization of production and the concentration of capital, strikes, the disproportionate use of force by the police, sexual harassment, immigration, the unpunished displacement of African Americans and immigrants, racism - this is far from a complete list of the problems raised.

Among other profound transformations, this was a time of change in the position of women and the birth of feminism. Emma Goldman, an anarchist and feminist from Kaunas, accuses Nesbit of the commercialism of her love, which is expressed in the choice of a rich husband. The difference between them she sees in freedom. In modern terminology, Edith is an icon of style, a top model and a naturist, whom everyone aspired to. But she is committed to the ideals of money, property, prosperity. While Goldman can go to the scaffold for the sake of an idea, and she will remain free. Both Nesbit and Goldman are real historical personalities, as are Booker T. Washington - a black educator, Peary the conqueror of the Arctic, the illusionist Houdini, the banker J.P. Morgan and many others, who personified the era.

Personally, I think that a very important aspect is that the extremely rapid technological progress strongly changes the social relations in society, which, due to inertia, does not have time to restructure. We are also now on the verge of revolutionary changes - the development of robotics, the liberation of human labor, migration processes, the accelerated growth of economic inequality - all this is very similar to the revolutionary changes caused by technological progress at the beginning of the twentieth century. Additionally, and unlike the previous century, we have very strong negative changes - climatic, which will also generate new problems and challenges. All this changes the geopolitical landscape, migration flows, the efficiency of production, people's consciousness, values and many areas of life. Resistance to these changes provokes conflicts and crisis situations. Instead of reevaluating after years and decades, we need to be aware of the changes in a timely manner.

Ragtime is a captivating and vivid portrayal of America in the early XX century. It presents a patchwork-like picture of a nation in flux.

And though the newspapers called the shooting the Crime of the Century, Goldman knew it was only 1906 and there were ninety-four years to go.

It was a time when patriotism was a reliable sentiment, everyone wore white in summer, and there were no Negroes or immigrants, at least according to the popular perception. The story weaves together the fates of fictional heroes with real figures of the era, such as magician Houdini, tycoons J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford, anarchist Emma Goldman, and even Sigismund Freud, who famously declared America is a mistake, a gigantic mistake after his return to Vienna.

It delves into the lives of those who were non-existent and invisible to the average American, like the black musician fighting for his rights and dignity in a white man's world, or the poor emigrants from eastern Europe living in the slums. We witness the flourishing of capitalism, the clash between anarchism and socialism, the American dream juxtaposed with racism, and the divide between the rich and the poor. Set in locations like New York, New Rochelle, Atlantic City, and even the Arctic as R.E. Peary reaches the North Pole, Ragtime captures a period of significant economic, social, and technological transformation.

And later, well, later the era of Ragtime came to an end, and America entered the War, marking a new chapter in its history.

Some hearts, love is a kind of wound, a kind of physical weakness. Like the softness of bones, like the damaged lungs.

At that time.

From junior high school to the end of university, together with the book "Beliefs of a Pure Heart", I read them several times. In my opinion, they are the best books of their authors.

**No One Ever Drove This Fast Before**

The narrative pace of Ragtime is truly astonishing. It never slows down, not even for direct speech. It continuously moves from one place to another, from one person to another, with non-stop description, assertion, connection, and reversal. Everywhere you look, there are crowds, traffic, and excitement. If there is a momentary equilibrium, it is fragile. A tour boat lists first to starboard and then to port. A motor car belches steam at the crest of a hill, and a chauffeur is bribed to keep quiet.

This is extrovert writing. It uses the active voice, strong verbs, and the present tense. It has a high-frequency transmission. Introspection and interior monologue are almost non-existent. It's like traveling in an empty railway carriage as the scenery of events passes by, with billboards flashing the names of contemporary celebrities like Admiral Peary, Teddy Roosevelt, Stanford White, Freud, and Houdini. Not until Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho will there be more trendy brand names and trademarks in a novel.

In Ragtime, what matters is the mood, style, and spirit. The plot is really the history of the epoch, a new age in America. The characters are the ones who make that history, including immigrants, street people, freaks, new suburbanites, and the Robber Barons of Fifth Avenue and Murray Hill. The principle characters are roles rather than people: Father, Tateh (Yiddish for Daddy), Younger Brother, and The Boy. Having a proper name in Ragtime means the character is disposable background used to connect the principle roles to historical events. For example, Houdini comes to the suburban house and exchanges adventure-tales with Father, and Evelyn Nesbit, the notorious wife of a celebrity-murderer, has an affair with Younger Brother and falls in love with Tateh.

Everyone is getting on, moving up, and splashing out in their own way, depending on their class. The insanely wealthy have insanely opulent parties, the well-off bourgeoisie go on polar expeditions, and the proles take an outing on the street cars. Members of each class know almost nothing about those of another, but each celebrates its distinct freedoms to the fullest. This is the American Way. If it seems heartless or pointless, like racist lynchings, destitution, child labor, and starvation wages, that's only because you're not part of it. This constitutes the real world: get over it, or go back where you came from, or die. It's called freedom of choice.

Socialism and anarchism come with the immigrants. Agitation is intellectual, with plays, lectures, and study groups, and an international awareness that would disappear by mid-century. The plays of Ibsen are used to incite the masses and provoke police retaliation. Sex is something you discover accidentally for yourself. Unanalysed, it just happens, and you get on with it too, usually badly, and with the still prevailing dire consequences. Assassination is still a common form of transfer of governmental power.

Men still love their non-Oedipal mothers without guilt or shame. Women radicals like Emma Goldman make no distinction between capitalist oppression and patriarchal abuse. Both need to be eradicated, and the corporate system, because it and its universal media don't yet exist, doesn't co-opt them as armchair liberals. The automobile is a luxury, but it doesn't matter because trams can get you from New York to Boston for a nickel. But probably not if you're Black.

This is a novel of America on the turn, racing to get somewhere else as fast as possible. The immigrants want out of New York, and the aspiring rubes want in. The national horror of the Civil War has been fictionalized by both sides into an heroic misunderstanding. So much fuss it was, and no one could remember what it was about. These labor unions are going to crush this country if we don't crush them first. None of them is even American yet. The only thing more irritating than immigrants is black folk, especially when they start acting like they were white folk.

Europeans may be decadent and always feuding over something silly, but their armies are far enough away not to be a worry. Everything we want is made, grown, or taken out of the earth right here, or soon will be thanks to Morgan's money and Ford's genius. Anyway, the Pacific is easier prey: Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines are already in the bag.

Industrialization has taken an unexpected direction: not the factory-model of England so effectively attacked by Marx, but in the construction of giant corporate cartels controlled by a few hundred financiers. But who's worried? The American world runs on parallel rails of steel that have no obvious terminus.

Everything after this cultural turn we can recognize as modern America. What happened before is forgotten or mythologized. It might as well be the new creation talked about in the Bible. At least that idea would keep the momentum, the crowds, the traffic, the striving upward, the excitement of 20th century America going, even if the ultimate destination isn't a religious paradise but entirely un-thought and unknown. Movement is the most important thing. Our legacy, honored still.

Pure, surrealistic poetry

that is engrossingly terse and frank. It features a ceaseless imaginative progression, filled with a steady serving of factual particulars. This poetry is invigoratingly bold in its own unique way. It stands out as impressively original. It has the power to transport readers to a different realm of thought and perception. Each line seems to be carefully crafted to evoke strong emotions and vivid images. The combination of the surreal and the factual creates a captivating and thought-provoking experience. Whether you are a poetry enthusiast or just someone looking for something new and exciting to read, this pure, surrealistic poetry is sure to leave a lasting impression.

_______

Reading updates.

Ragtime is not a "time" (meter) in the same sense that march time is 2/4 meter and waltz time is 3/4 meter.

Rather, it is a musical genre that employs an effect that can be applied to any meter.

The defining feature of ragtime music is a particular type of syncopation where melodic accents take place between metrical beats.

This leads to a melody that appears to be evading some metrical beats of the accompaniment by highlighting notes that either precede or follow the beat.

Scott Joplin, the composer/pianist renowned as the "King of Ragtime", described the effect as "weird and intoxicating".

I have never listened to ragtime music, but by the time I completed this novel, I was able to fathom how it would feel.

It is a great book that offers an interesting perspective on this unique musical genre.

Even without direct exposure to the music, the description in the novel allows one to imagine the captivating and perhaps somewhat disorienting nature of ragtime.

It makes one curious to explore this musical style further and experience its true essence.

Overall, the combination of the novel and the information about ragtime provides a rich and engaging experience for the reader.