Doctorow, Edgar Lawrence

(b. 1931)

   American writer. Doctorow was born in New York and educated at Kenyon College. He began his career as an editor, but later he taught at the University of California, Sarah Lawrence College, Yale and New York University.

   Besides plays and short stories, Doctorow is the author of Welcome to Hard Times (1960), Big as Life (1966), The Book of Daniel (1971), Rag Time (1975), Loon Lake (1980), World’s Fair (1985) and Billy Bathgate (1989). Doctorow draws on his own background and he makes use of historical characters such as Thomas Dewey, Sigmund FREUD, Emma GOLDMAN and HOUDINI in his fiction. He frequently refers to the American-Jewish immigrant experience and explores many of its inherent tensions. His work is unusual in that his books enjoy enormous commercial success (several have been made into films) as well as considerable literary acclaim. Among his many prizes, he has won the National Book Circles Critics’ Award, the American Book Award, the Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the PEN/Faulkner Prize.