The Waterworks (novel) Totally Explained

Everything about The Waterworks Novel totally explained

Waterworks is an novel by E. L. Doctorow, written in 1994.

Content

The setting of the novel is New York in the year 1871. Martin Pemberton, a freelance journalist, was at odds with his father Augustus, who died a few years ago. After his father’s death, Martin sees his father, briefly and accidentally in a public bus (omnibus) as it drives past him. Martin begins to make inquiries but suddenly disappears. His employer and editor McIlvaine, begins looking for him. In a search for clues and connections, McIlvaine interrogates several characters including Martin’s fiancée, Emily Tisdale, Martin's stepmother, the painter Harry Wheelwright and the Reverend Charles Grimshaw. As soon as McIlvaine approaches police officer Edmund Donne for help, they begin to realize the full extent of Augustus Pemberton's game. Again and again they come back to the Croton Aqueduct. Soon McIlvaine and Donne lean that Augustus Pemberton has faked his death and together with other plutocrats of the city – are being kept alive by the dangerous and intelligent doctor and scientist Dr. Sartorius. Colluding with the historical character of "Boss" William Tweed Sartorius has realized many of the keys to extended, perhaps eternal life. Its dark secret is that young children must be sacrificed for their blood and somatic cells. Dr. Sartorius considers himself innocent of their actual deaths, as each child taken "died from fright" and not from his nefarious medical attention. Martin Pemberton, who has been imprisoned by the Doctor, is freed by Donne and returns to his family. However, Martin has fallen ill and becomes deranged by his Stokholm-syndrome fascination with Doctor Sartorius. In the meantime, Sartorius is brought to the insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island, where he continues his experiments, but upon himself. Without Sartorius' twisted scientific experiments, the half-dead plutocrats of the city, including Augustus Pemberton – die. The entire city of New York learns of the plot and becomes fascinated by the scientific racketeering. This is implied to be one of the many causes of Mr Tweed’s real-life imprisonment. However, the public never comes to know the full extent of Dr. Sartorius' experiments.

Characters

Mr McIlvaine: first-person narrator
Martin Pemberton: Freelance journalist, who writes scathing reviews and is at odds with his father
Augustus Pemberton: is gained wealth with slave trade and the procuction of low grade war goods during the American Civil War
Harry Wheelwright: the only friend of Martin Pemberton. McIlvaine doesn’t like him
Emily Tisdale: fiancée and school day friend of Martin
Charles Grimshaw: Reverend, who was received by Augutus Pemberton
Edmund Donne: One of the few police men in New York, who isn't corrupt
Dr. Sartorius: Doctor with thirst for knowledge like Faust. He worked in military hospitals during the Civil War. In this role he appears in E.L. Doctorows later novel The March. first-person narrator tells about the german origin of the name. It the translation of the german word for dressmaker (Schneider) in Latin.

World outlook

The first-person narrator shows a very negative image of the city he lives – and he shows the readers a authentic view on the New York in the year 1871. He describes the corruption by William Tweed (whose picture we know from Thomas Nast’s cartoons, published in Harper’s Weekly) and he describes the child poverty, the calamities of the newsboys and al lot of buildings and streets how the looked to this time. He cites Walt Whitman for showing that his New York is another one.

Literary form

The storyline is determined by the the first-person narrator McIlvaine, who records the occurrence in 1872. He describes the personality of every single character (which he learned to know to a later point), but he doesn’t let the cat out of the bag until the end. So the novel works like a detective story. The authentic and dark atmosphere of the novel comes from the excursus about New York’s history.

Classification in the works of the author

The novel was less successful than other books by Doctorow like Billy Bathgate and Ragtime (novel), which was also filmed. All the same the alliance between history and fiction is the same. Some characters appear in other works of the author, for example Dr Sartorius in The March (novel). Doctorow's Father loved Edgar Allan Poe and named his first son after him. Doctorow told a journalist that Waterworks is to Poe’s honour (Source: Schama: New York, Gaslight Necropolis) . Already in 1984 Doctorow wrote a story about the Croton Aqueduct with the title Waterworks (In: Lives of the Poets). It’s the story of McIlvaine, who watched the child who drowned in the reservoir.

Classification in literary history

The description of child poverty are evocative of the novels by Charles Dickens. Dickens himself visited New York in the early forties and wrote the Book “American Notes”. Maybe another example was George G. Fosters New York by Gas-light and Other Urban Sketches (1850). Foster also described the newsboys at ButterCake Dick very well.

Sources:

E. L. Doctorow: Waterworks, New York, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0812978193

Weber, Bruce: E. L. Doctorow's New York; A Native of the Bronx Chronicles a Century of the City. In: New York Times, 05.07.1995. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E4DD1E3CF936A35754C0A962958260&scp=1&sq=waterworks+doctorow&st=nyt

Schama, Simon: New York, Gaslight Necropolis, In: New York Times, 19.06.1994. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00EEDB153AF93AA25755C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3

George G. Foster: New York by Gas-Light and Other Urban Sketches. 1990. ISBN-13: 978-0520067226

E. L. Doctorow: Lives of the Poets: A Novella and Six Stories. New York, 1997.Further Information

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