Catalin's History as Fiction Blog

Before starting Libra , we spent some class time discussing JFK's assassination. In this discussion we explored the different conspiracy theories surrounding JFK's death. There were many to choose from, but it quickly became clear that in order to write a book about this assassination, one couldn't include every conspiracy out there. After having read the first two chapters, the details as to which theory DeLillo has put at the center of his novel have become clear. Meeting the main characters, it is clear that the narrative that DeLillo is creating highlights the involvement of the CIA in Kennedy's death, so I decided to explore this conspiracy theory further to get an idea of the kind of story I can expect in Libra. (Much of this information is from an episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved which is titled "The Suspicious Assassination of JFK" and is a rather interesting video to watch if you have a spare 32 minutes!) The facts of the assassination are pretty clear...

Last week in class we discussed the impact of Kevin and Dana's races on the story of Kindred . We also discussed what it would be like if the races were reversed, and how this reversal brings to light many sexist aspects of Kevin and Dana's relationship in the antebellum South. Firstly, I think most people agreed that the story would be incredibly different had the races of Dana and Kevin be reversed. First of all, Dana would not be in the same position she is in every time she travels to early 1800s Maryland, as she would not experience the same dangers as a young white woman that she experiences as a black woman. She would not have to hide and be so cautious about being off of the plantation alone, as she would not have to forge papers saying she is free, she would be automatically respected and aided. Dana would also not have to pretend she is actually a slave to be able to stay with the Weylins and she would not have to do all the work that the slaves have to do in the ho...

Right from the beginning (beginning of the actual story, not the book!) of Slaughterhouse-Five,  Billy Pilgrim is a peculiar character. His narrative voice and lack of emotion seem very out of place in a book that deals with such a sensitive topic such as war. Although these characteristics would be extremely weird for a person in a "normal" universe, Billy Pilgrim is constantly traveling through time which influences his life and the way he experiences different events. It is an interesting choice of Vonnegut's to add this character to his book, as from the first few chapters you get the impression that he is trying to create an anti-war novel. The addition of a complex character with such a complex sub-plot such as Billy's would seemingly take away from the perceived main purpose of Slaughterhouse-Five . Billy's general air of nonchalance and calmness certainly seem weird when his time traveling takes him to places where other people would be the complete oppo...

When reading Mumbo Jumbo  by Ishamel Reed, the absurdness and radicality of some of the groups' ideas, such as the Wallflower Order and the Mu'tafikah, jump out to the reader as key parts of the book. When reading these parts we often disassociate what happens in Mumbo Jumbo  with what is happening in our world today, both because the book was published in 1972, almost 50 years ago, and the fact that it is set in 1920s America, almost 100 years ago. Even though the events and ideas of the characters seem very far away, the ideas still exist in American society today. Many of the characters in Mumbo Jumbo , such as some members of the Mu'tafikah, are working on the empowerment of African-American culture in western/white civilization. The Mu'tafikah themselves are working on taking back the artifacts white culture has stolen from different places around the world and returning them to their original location. They believe that returning the artifacts will ...

After we talked in class how some things in Ragtime  are completely made up and some things actually happened I did some research to make sure Coalhouse and his terror on New York weren't influenced by something that had actually happened. Even though it seemed to be a part of Doctorow's fictional aspects of the book (presumably we would know about some guy killing firemen all across New York and taking J.P. Morgan's library hostage...), you never know! All though just a quick Google search validated that there was no Coalhouse Walker Jr. terrorizing fire stations in early 20th century New York, I did stumble upon something else that had some vague (and some not so vague!) connections to Ragtime : the Wall Street bombing. When I was researching domestic terrorist attacks in early 20th century America, I at first didn't find any that seemed connected to the things that happened in Ragtime , as very few of the attacks actually happened in New York or the eastern Unite...

In  Ragtime  by E.L. Doctorow, we see a theme of imprisonment in many of the main characters. Both directly and indirectly, most characters in the novel feel as if they are caught somewhere. Through their experiences before the beginning of  Ragtime  and even through some of the actions in the book, they find themselves in difficult situations which end up being very hard to get out of. Tateh exhibits a sense of being imprisoned. He is stuck in a cycle of poverty, which he attempts to escape by selling his paper silhouettes. Because of his immigrant status and devotion to protecting his daughter, he can't escape this cycle of poverty, rendering him imprisoned. Even when Tateh and his daughter leave the slums in New York and move to Massachusetts, they are still stuck in poverty. Working at the factory, "Tateh stood in front of a loom for fifty-six hours a week. His pay was just under six dollars" (Doctorow 120). Though he makes a radical move, completely leaving li...