"The Milk Train"

Edgar Lawrence Doctorow wrote a historical fiction with a title reflecting the musical craze of the times: Ragtime.

Set in the early 1900’s, we follow the intermingled fates of a white family, of a mysterious black woman with a newborn child and of a ragtime musician named Coalhouse. As one would expect, the text mentions composer Scott Joplin. The music of romantic composers such as Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin is also present. The reader will encounter other names: composers John Philip Sousa (p. 21), Victor Herbert, Rudolf Friml and Carrie Jacobs Bond; tenor John McCormack; bandleader Jim Europe. Some titles appear in the novel: “Wall Street Rag,” “Maple Leaf Rag,” “Hungarian Rhapsody,” “The Minute Waltz,” “I Hear You Calling Me.” “L’Internationale” is heard during a labor demonstration. The author also includes more obscure genres such as “Bowdoin College Songs” or “Coon Songs.” A much rarer feat is the inclusion of a composer’s words. As an epigraph, we find the indication Scott Joplin would often inscribe on his scores: “Do not play this piece fast / It is never right to play Ragtime fast…” 

I would argue that one of the most important scenes in the book is to be found in the middle of the story. Slightly irritated by the presence of Coalhouse, Father invites him to play the piano. The aforementioned rags are then played by the musician caller. This is, after all, the first moment in the text when we hear Ragtime.  And the performance will continue to resonate with Mother in Atlantic City some chapters later. We can also measure the scope of what the pianist will be willing to sacrifice. 

One only needs to read the floral comparisons describing “Wall Street Rag” to get a sense of the music’s power. “Maple Leaf Rag” creates a display of lights all across the room. The music of Scott Joplin is a powerful one. Adjectives “robust” and “vigorous” are used to describe the latter rag. The former rag inspires an even more intriguing formula: “There seemed to be no other possibilities for life than those delineated by the music.” The music sets a course of action from which characters will not deviate. 

At his most vulnerable, Younger Brother listens to his surroundings as if it were music, or more precisely, as if it were a rag. The heart-broken man distributes the music of the milk train he is riding between the hands of an imaginary pianist: The wheels are in the bass clef; the screeching cars are in the treble clef. Right when the despairing young man has to make a life-defining choice, he gives his reality the shape and form of a rag.

Music plays a crucial role in the novel. It is often associated with great journeys: Freud in America, Father’s arctic expedition, the family in exile in Atlantic City. Music is precious in the sense that it reminds characters where they come from, serving as a link between different geographical zones : between Atlantic City and New Rochelle, between the North Pole and the United States, between America and Europe. It’s no wonder that Booker T. Washington’s argumentation revolves around this reminder. Couldn’t Coalhouse, a retired pianist, an alumnus of the “lyceum of music,” be reasonable again?

Follow this link to hear a percussion arrangement of the famous Scott Joplin ragtime. 

Doctorow, Edgar Lawrence. Ragtime, Modern Library, 1997