E. L. Doctorow's The Waterworks: A Polyphonic Novel
E. L. Doctorow's The Waterworks: A Polyphonic Novel

Summary/Abstract: The present article sets to examine the applicability of Mikhail Bakhtin's concepts of polyphony and heteroglossia to E. L. Doctorow's The Waterworks. Doctorow, by deploying postmodern historiography and blurring the line between the real and the marvelous, portrays nineteenth century New York revisionistically and likewise, depicts how the amalgamation of the monologic, authoritarian power of the imperious capitalism as Augustus Pemberton or the real historical figure William Magear Tweed with the 'excentrics' gives rise to a dialogic, polyphonic quality within the novel. Also, discussed is the centrality of the narrator, McIlvaine that boosts the dialogized ambience and stimulate the effort to decrown the 'regime of power.'

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