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Edgar Lawrence "E. L." Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American author, editor, and professor, best known internationally for his works of historical fiction. He has been described as one of the most important American novelists of the 20th century. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included the award-winning novels ''Ragtime'' (1975), ''Billy Bathgate'' (1989), and ''The March'' (2005). These, like many of his other works, placed fictional characters in recognizable historical contexts, with known historical figures, and often used different narrative styles. His stories were recognized for their originality and versatility, and Doctorow was praised for his audacity and imagination.〔("E. L. Doctorow Dies at 84; Literary Time Traveler Stirred Past Into Fiction" ), ''The New York Times'', July 21, 2015〕 A number of Doctorow's novels were also adapted for the screen, including, ''Welcome to Hard Times'' (1967), with Henry Fonda, ''Daniel'' (1983), starring Timothy Hutton, and ''Billy Bathgate'' (1991) starring Dustin Hoffman. His most notable adaptations were for the film, ''Ragtime'' (1981) and the Broadway musical of the same name (1988), which won four Tony Awards. Doctorow was the recipient of numerous writing awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for ''Ragtime'', National Book Critics Circle Award for ''Billy Bathgate'', National Book Critics Circle Award for ''The March,'' and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. President Barack Obama called him "one of America's greatest novelists".〔("US novelist EL Doctorow dies at 84" ), BBC, July 22, 2015〕 ==Early life== Doctorow was born in The Bronx, the son of Rose (Levine) and David Richard Doctorow, second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish extraction who named him after Edgar Allan Poe.〔Wutz, Michael. ("The E.L. Doctorow I Remember" ), ''Newsweek'', July 22, 2015〕 His father ran a small music shop.〔(Intersections: E.L. Doctorow on Rhythm and Writing ), June 28, 2004.〕 He attended city public grade schools and The Bronx High School of Science where, surrounded by mathematically gifted children, he fled to the office of the school literary magazine, ''Dynamo,'' which published his first literary effort. He then enrolled in a journalism class to increase his opportunities to write.〔(American Conversation: E. L. Doctorow ), September 25, 2008.〕 Doctorow attended Kenyon College in Ohio, where he studied with the poet and New Critic John Crowe Ransom, acted in college theater productions and majored in philosophy. While at Kenyon College, Doctorow joined the Middle Kenyon Association, and he became friends with fellow student and future historian Richard H. Collin. After graduating with honors in 1952, he completed a year of graduate work in English drama at Columbia University before being drafted into the United States Army. He served as a corporal in the signal corps, in Germany 1954–55 during the Allied occupation.〔("Beloved Historical Fiction Author E.L. Doctorow Dead At 84" ), ''Huffington Post'', July 21, 2015〕〔("E.L. Doctorow, acclaimed author of historical fiction, dies at 84" ), ''PBS'', July 21, 2015〕 He returned to New York after his military service and took a job as a reader for a motion picture company, where he said he had to read so many Westerns that he was inspired to write what became his first novel, ''Welcome to Hard Times''. He began it as a parody of western fiction, but it evolved to be a serious reclamation of the genre before he was finished. It was published to positive reviews in 1960, with Wirt Williams of the ''New York Times'' describing it as "taut and dramatic, exciting and successfully symbolic."〔Williams, Wirt. ("'Welcome to Hard Times'" ), ''New York Times'', September 25, 1960〕 When asked how he decided to become a writer, he said, "I was a child who read everything I could get my hands on. Eventually, I asked of a story not only what was to happen next, but how is this done? How am I made to live from words on a page? And so I became a writer."〔("EL Doctorow, author of Ragtime and Billy Bathgate, dies in New York aged 84" ), ''The Guardian'', U.K., July 22, 2015〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「E. L. Doctorow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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