{"product_id":"book-av7u","title":"Creationists","description":"E. L. Doctorow is acclaimed internationally for such novels as \u003ci\u003eRagtime, Billy Bathgate\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe March.\u003c\/i\u003e Here now are his rich, revelatory essays on the nature of imaginative thought. In \u003ci\u003eCreationists,\u003c\/i\u003e Doctorow considers creativity in its many forms, from the literary to the comic to the cosmic. As he wrestles with the subjects that have teased and fired his own imagination, Doctorow affirms that “we know by what we create.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust what is Melville doing in Moby-Dick? How did \u003ci\u003eThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer\u003c\/i\u003e impel Mark Twain to the  radical rewrite that we know as \u003ci\u003eHuckleberry Finn?\u003c\/i\u003e Can we ever trust what novelists say about their own work? How could Franz Kafka have written a book called \u003ci\u003eAmerika\u003c\/i\u003e without ever leaving Europe? In posing such questions, Doctorow grapples with literary creation not as a critic or as a scholar–but as one working writer frankly contemplating the work of another. It’s a perspective that affords him both protean grace and profound insight. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmong the essays collected here are Doctorow’s musings on the very different Spanish Civil War novels of Ernest Hemingway and André Malraux; a candid assessment of Edgar Allan Poe as our “greatest bad writer”; and a bracing analysis of the story of Genesis, in which God figures as the most complex and riveting character. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn examining the creative works of different times and disciplines, Doctorow also reveals the source and nature of his own artistry. Rich in aphorism and anecdote, steeped in history and psychology, informed by a lifetime of reading and writing, \u003ci\u003eCreationists\u003c\/i\u003e opens a magnificent window into one of the great creative minds of our time.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49340463087920,"sku":"BDav7u","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/248527-av7u-Square.jpg?v=1734043971","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-av7u","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}