Homer and Langley - E.L. Doctorow

Homer and Langley spans almost a century of American history from the turn of the century, through the Great War, the Depression, WWII, Prohibition, the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the Moon landing, the counter-culture movement of the 60s to the Watergate scandal and beyond. That's a lot of ground to cover in a relatively slim novel, but what is interesting about Doctorow's spin on this important period of American history is the perspective. 

It's hard not to see something significant and symbolic then in the author's choice to view these events from the perspective of the Collyer brothers - Homer, a blind man, and Langley, a retired soldier, a victim of WWI - two eccentrics who rarely leave their large New York Fifth Avenue townhouse. The shutters closed to the world outside, the brothers are however not untouched by the great changes that go on over the decades. Even then, extending the lifespan of the Collyer brothers in this way and speculating on their motivations, it's still hard to imagine this set-up - as reductive as Langley's quest for a universal newspaper - as being capable of providing the scope necessary to treat its subject in anything but the most superficial of ways.

Expectations accordingly adjusted however, Homer and Langley proves to be a beautiful little novel that touches on the essence of the times and captures the human qualities of the lives caught up in it. The Collyer brothers' crumbling mansion becomes a fulcrum for the spirit of the different periods, at times opened up as a tea room, a dance parlour, a speakeasy, a concert hall, and an art gallery of sorts, a temporary haven for immigrants, gangsters and free-loving hippies, a museum for the archiving of events and for the gathering of all the technological innovations of the age. At the same time, it's not a nostalgic trip through the decades, but rather a warmly human experience in the emotional ground it covers with the range of characters that pass through and end-up touching the brothers' lives.