The Collyer brothers of E.L. Doctorow’s Homer & Langley are
loosely based on a pair of real life brothers whose eccentric
lifestyle created a sensation when they were found dead in their
New York City Fifth Avenue home in 1947. Like their real life
counterparts, by the time of their deaths, Doctorow’s Homer and
Langley Collyer had filled their once extravagant home with so
many newspapers, books, magazines, and whatever else Langley
decided to drag home (including the Model T that filled one
room) that they could barely move around inside the home.
Doctorow’s fictional brothers, however, do not meet their deaths
until well into the 1970s, allowing them to witness the Korean
War, the Viet Nam War and the flower children of the sixties.
Homer introduces himself in the book’s first sentence by saying,
“I’m Homer, the blind brother,” and from that moment, everything
is “seen” and recounted from his point-of-view. Homer is the
younger brother, the one left behind with his wealthy parents
when older brother Langley