Title: History as a Mirror: A Reflection of Social Corruption Caused by American Dream in E. L. Doctorow’s The Waterworks

Abstract: The Waterworks is a well-known American postmodern historical writer and E. L. Doctorow’s ninth novel. Set in New York shortly after the Civil War, it tells the story of the immoral Dr. Sartorius who uses the poor street children’s organs to practice body experiment in order to prolong the lives of wealthy white men in New York. This article borrows Fredric Jameson’s Neo-Marxist theory to analyze and interpret the novel and intends to expose several social problems that existed in American society in the late 19th century and discuss how Doctorow resorts to history to criticize American society.

Keywords: E. L. Doctorow, The Waterworks, Neo-Marxism, history

Author: Zhe Hu, Ph.D candidate, College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.