Self-destructive Manhattan in E. L. Doctorow’s The Waterworks
Self-destructive Manhattan in E. L. Doctorow’s The Waterworks
Author(s): Anamaria SchwabSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Academia Română – Centrul de Studii Transilvane
Keywords: Manhattan; dystopia; excess; material culture; posthumanism; Industrial Revolution.
Summary/Abstract: The essay shows how E. L. Doctorow’s novel The Waterworks (1994) acts to construct a convincing dystopia of Manhattan as fictionally recreated, alternative history. I argue that Doctorow’s dystopiais based on a central, posthuman element, which is related not to our future, as one might expect, but to the nineteenth century.
Journal: Transylvanian Review
- Issue Year: XXVI/2017
- Issue No: Suppl 2
- Page Range: 211-226
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English