Prominent novelist E.L. Doctorow dies at 84

E.L. Doctorow, one of the most accomplished novelists in the United States in recent decades, best known for his historical fiction, died on Tuesday at the age of 84, US media reports said.

The award-winning author of historical novels such as Ragtime, Billy Bathgate and The March, died in a New York hospital of complications from lung cancer, his son, Richard Doctorow, told The New York Times.

The Bronx-born son of second-generation Russian Jews, Doctorow wielded a writing style that was bold and unusual, giving him the reputation of a creative experimenter.

His illustrious career spanned about six decades and a dozen novels, as well as numerous other writings.

Each work took different facts and fictional elements in a new direction, including Westerns and the detective story.

"E.L. Doctorow was one of America's greatest novelists. His books taught me much, and he will be missed," President Barack Obama said in a message posted on Twitter.

Edgar Lawrence Doctorow studied at Kenyon College in Ohio, and then did a year in the graduate program in drama at Columbia University. It was there he met his future wife, Helen Setzer, then an aspiring actress. They married in Germany while Doctorow, who was drafted, served in the Army. They had a son and two daughters.

After working at odd jobs and then in publishing, Doctorow's first book, 1960's Welcome to Hard Times, was a Western. He followed up with 1966's Big as Life, inspired by science fiction.

The Book of Daniel, published in 1971, intertwined personal narrative with history.

Obama has called Doctorow's Ragtime a personal favorite.

That work, published in 1975 and set in New York during the Gilded Age, tells the story of main protagonist Coalhouse Walker Jr, a black musician victimized by racism.

In his 2006 novel, The March, Doctorow recounts one of the climactic moments of the US Civil War - the march of Union General William Sherman from Atlanta to Savannah toward the end of the conflict.

Another masterwork, Billy Bathgate, published in 1998, explores the underbelly of the organized-crime world in the US during the 1920s and 1930s.

In a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Doctorow explained the art of speaking through his subjects in his fiction.

"Every book has its own voice," he said.

"I think there's a kind of ventriloquial thing that goes on when I write. I don't ever want to hear my own voice; it's one of the worst things that can happen."

AFP - AP