Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes
Unlike the majority of E. L. Doctorow’s novels which present a revisionary account of specific periods in American history, his first novel, Welcome to Hard Times, deals with history in a more general and allegorical manner. The narrator of the novel is preoccupied with the nature of history and hi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Arabic |
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Collage of Education Ibn Rushd / University of Baghdad
2021-03-01
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| Series: | الأستاذ |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://alustath.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/UJIRCO/article/view/1297 |
| _version_ | 1818287201963737088 |
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| author | Ph.D. candidate Hossein Torkamannejad Asst. Prof. Zohreh Ramin |
| author_facet | Ph.D. candidate Hossein Torkamannejad Asst. Prof. Zohreh Ramin |
| author_sort | Ph.D. candidate Hossein Torkamannejad |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Unlike the majority of E. L. Doctorow’s novels which present a revisionary account of specific periods in American history, his first novel, Welcome to Hard Times, deals with history in a more general and allegorical manner. The narrator of the novel is preoccupied with the nature of history and historical phenomena, and this preoccupation pervades the whole book, from which a philosophy of history can be derived: history is cyclic and it tends to repeat itself in a deterministic fashion. Since Doctorow was an American Jew who was influenced by the Jewish tradition, in this paper, Welcome to Hard Times is placed within a Jewish context and read from the perspective of this multilayered tradition. Hence, the novel’s philosophy of history is compared to the historical vision of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, which also espouses a cyclic conception of history, thereby demonstrating that their visions are almost identical. In Doctorow’s novel, however, this cyclic view also serves to repudiate the American Dream and its associated ideas of progress and optimism. It is further shown that the two aforementioned books also share a fatalistic and nihilistic attitude toward life, and their response to the Problem of Evil and innocent human suffering is a pessimistic one, arguing that there is no justice and moral order in the world.
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| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:36:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5cf3bae9fc5d47fc86ac380f6ff70b19 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0552-265X 2518-9263 |
| language | Arabic |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:36:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | Collage of Education Ibn Rushd / University of Baghdad |
| record_format | Article |
| series | الأستاذ |
| spelling | doaj.art-5cf3bae9fc5d47fc86ac380f6ff70b192022-12-22T00:03:53ZaraCollage of Education Ibn Rushd / University of Baghdadالأستاذ0552-265X2518-92632021-03-0160110.36473/ujhss.v60i1.1297Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of EcclesiastesPh.D. candidate Hossein Torkamannejad0Asst. Prof. Zohreh Ramin1University of TehranUniversity of Tehran. Unlike the majority of E. L. Doctorow’s novels which present a revisionary account of specific periods in American history, his first novel, Welcome to Hard Times, deals with history in a more general and allegorical manner. The narrator of the novel is preoccupied with the nature of history and historical phenomena, and this preoccupation pervades the whole book, from which a philosophy of history can be derived: history is cyclic and it tends to repeat itself in a deterministic fashion. Since Doctorow was an American Jew who was influenced by the Jewish tradition, in this paper, Welcome to Hard Times is placed within a Jewish context and read from the perspective of this multilayered tradition. Hence, the novel’s philosophy of history is compared to the historical vision of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, which also espouses a cyclic conception of history, thereby demonstrating that their visions are almost identical. In Doctorow’s novel, however, this cyclic view also serves to repudiate the American Dream and its associated ideas of progress and optimism. It is further shown that the two aforementioned books also share a fatalistic and nihilistic attitude toward life, and their response to the Problem of Evil and innocent human suffering is a pessimistic one, arguing that there is no justice and moral order in the world. https://alustath.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/UJIRCO/article/view/1297philosophy of historycyclic conceptionEcclesiastesAmerican DreamProblem of Evil |
| spellingShingle | Ph.D. candidate Hossein Torkamannejad Asst. Prof. Zohreh Ramin Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes الأستاذ philosophy of history cyclic conception Ecclesiastes American Dream Problem of Evil |
| title | Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes |
| title_full | Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes |
| title_fullStr | Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes |
| title_short | Philosophy of History in E. L. Doctorow’s Welcome to Hard Times and Its Affinities with the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes |
| title_sort | philosophy of history in e l doctorow s welcome to hard times and its affinities with the biblical book of ecclesiastes |
| topic | philosophy of history cyclic conception Ecclesiastes American Dream Problem of Evil |
| url | https://alustath.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/UJIRCO/article/view/1297 |
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