Comments on: E.L. Doctorow’s “The Waterworks”

By: Robert Earleywine

Robert Earleywine — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:34:11 +0000

Doctorow’s use of elipses: Here’s my take. They’re used for pauses and emphasis, particularly in the dialogue when one of his characters seems to be searching for a word. Perhaps he peppers too many of them into his prose, but he’s also a sort of word musician, working with the silences.

I just finished this book. It was my introduction to Doctorow and I was quite impressed, reminded somewhat in the first two-thirds of Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye, wherein a character disappears then reappears. But Doctorow’s portrayal of Dr. Sartorius really wowed me. As he and his work place was revealed, it seemed I was entering a world like that of E.A. Poe. I especially liked how Doctorow didn’t really put any of his characters down or dismiss their attitudes, even the villains, if they can be called that.

It’s great to find a novelist whose prose is nearly as tight as that of the masters of the short story. Now I’m ready for Ragtime.

By: The day I discovered Doctorow

The day I discovered Doctorow — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:09:23 +0000

[...] There, crouching on a floor littered with the usual recent graduate’s offerings of rumpled clothes and crusted plates, I scanned the rows of Hemingway, Auster, Amis et al. Everything was familiar, nothing looked enticing – until, printed on a white Picador spine, I came across the name of an author I’d never heard of. The author was Doctorow, and the novel was The Waterworks. [...]

By: Ross

Ross — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:43:43 +0000

Jay, it took me a while to decipher the ellipses as well, because their intent isare not uniformly employeed throughout the book. But they serve as a dramatic pause in the narrative . . . mostly.

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:35:47 +0000

Jay: You do realize it’s been 16 years since I reviewed this book, right…? Can’t say I remember too well, but I will point out that Doctorow does sometimes use things like ellipses for stylistic effect. Don’t know there’s any concrete reason for it.

By: Jay Behrman

Jay Behrman — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:34:55 +0000

Just a quick question. I’m currently reading “Waterworks”. Could you explain the author’s constant use of ellipses. I find them distracting, in part, because I don’t understand their intended purpose.

Thanks
Jay Behrman

By: tara khadka

tara khadka — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:28:14 +0000

I am doing research on Doctorow so I want more materials concerning the writer