51 pages • 1 hour read
City of God
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Symbols & Motifs
Movies
Movies are presented by and large as flattened, idealized versions of narrative forced to exist in linear time, whereas a novel is able to exist in a kind of epic, experiential, or intellectual time. In this way, movies represent the weakening of thought, though the novel is quick to point out that it wasn’t always this way, saying that the earliest movies were made cheaply and in conversation with the audience in a way that was eventually removed through the imposition of money and business. There’s an interesting biographical note to all of this, as several of E. L. Doctorow’s previous novels have been made into films, and none of them were considered critical or commercial hits. Though the criticism of film can be read through this lens, it also serves a rich thematic purpose, suggesting that Everett’s own attempts at storytelling are suffering from the same narrative problems as movies (he often thinks of what he’s writing as movie scripts, for example). The novel as a whole is a sprawling, messy take on life in the 20th century, but the book Everett is trying to write throughout City of God is much more like the novel’s idea of a movie in its intent.
The Midrash Jazz Quartet
A midrash is a commentary or explication of Hebrew scripture, and throughout the novel, that mode is employed in monologues to a fictional audience as an unnamed speaker unpacks the meaning of different American jazz standards. The application of Hebrew custom and modes of thought to pop culture is designed to bring two main themes of the book—the nature of religious faith and the impact of culture—into conversation, which is further complicated when Frank Sinatra takes over in the final midrash section and points out how callow his music seems in comparison to the rise of fascism and genocide that took place concurrently with the rise of jazz as an art form. Religious textual analysis of jazz lyrics is given even more significance when, toward the end of the novel, a dying man sings his “hymns” with a nun, and they are the same jazz standards that have been appearing in the midrash sections.
Historical Figures
Several famous figures speak through Everett’s imagination in his writings, including Albert Einstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Frank Sinatra. In these sections, thoughts and themes that appear elsewhere are built upon, such as Einstein’s settled view of religion’s relationship to physics, which echoes the struggles of Thomas Pemberton and Everett to understand their role in relation to God. These famous figures are also in conversation with the narratives of the characters, whether in Everett’s other writings or in his encounters with Pemberton and Sarah Blumenthal. The purpose here is two-fold. Since this is all part of Everett’s writing, it is a way of showing his character trying to draw connections between the most significant figures of the century and his own work and life. It is also a confirmation of Thomas Pemberton’s search for a new way of looking at God, as human connection and patterns of thought are part of his understanding of what God should be. Like Everett and Thomas, these historical figures were searching for meaning, and by depicting them in his writing, Everett (and Doctorow himself) is engaged in the act of affirming and remaking that meaning for his own purpose, which can be viewed as a secular version of Thomas’ journey.
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By E. L. Doctorow
