Jacket for The Great Gatsby. Cerca 1925
Personally, I have no horse in this race. But I am interested in discussions regarding the best of the best. Not that any of them are definitive, or even particularly enlightening. They do, however, seem to spark interesting dialogue.
A friend of mine sent along an online article about a panel discussion on the topic of Great American Novel. The Cultural Center of Cape Cod recently had a battle of the books, with five English teachers guiding the debate, and some one hundred people in the audience.
Some excerpts from the article:
“Moby Dick” had the home court advantage according to Rick Porteus, who teaches at Dennis Yarmouth High School. “Two months ago the Massachusetts state legislature voted ‘Moby Dick’ the epic of Massachusetts,” he said.
Porteus discussed the connections “Moby Dick” has to the Cape and Islands, including the story of the Essex, a Nantucket whaling ship that was sunk by a sperm whale. The crew resorted to cannibalism. The Essex was one of the two inspirations for “Moby Dick.”
Porteus looked up ‘great American novel’ and discovered the phrase was popularized around 1868. At the time that Melville was writing “Moby Dick,” he and Nathaniel Hawthorne discussed who would become “the American Shakespeare.”
“Melville in all humility set out to be that person,” Porteus said.
Melville is a great choice. Great as in size, too. It’s a whale of a book. Snicker snicker. Another teacher chose Twain.
“Mark Twain totally changed the way people read,” Lippa said. “Just the word ‘ain’t’ itself changed the way people read books… but the biggest moral issue in this book is the issue of slavery. He uses the ‘n’ word and he uses it in a time where it’s not acceptable, not because people thought it was egregious, but because it was so trashy.”
Ultimately it is the growth in Huck as he travels down the Mississippi with Jim that makes the novel so important. “When Huck decides after reading a letter from Miss Watson that he’d rather tear it up and go to Hell than betray his friend, a black boy, that to me is the most profoundly moving statement in all of American literature.”
Three more to go. I can’t post the whole article, even though it’s very short. If you care to weigh in here, please leave comments, your picks, or your complaints if you have them about the very concept of “Great American Novel”.
In my opinion, all such discussions should start with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.
Of those mentioned in the article, Faulkner’s probably the most successful export (eg Borges’ translation of _The Wild Palms_ set Magic Realism in motion), but that’s more a question of the Great American Novelist.
But for me, aside from the worthy aforementioned, the American novel didn’t hit its stride until after WWII (before stumbling in the 80s). The “Great American Novel” has more contenders in this era, such as _The Recognitions_ (or _JR_), _Lolita_, _The Sot-Weed Factor_, _Sometimes a Great Notion_, or perhaps one of Pynchon’s (which?) …
You make a good case for late 20th century. I would add to that list, Richard Powers’ The Gold Bug Variations; Gaddis’s A Frolic of His Own; Call it Sleep; by Henry Roth, and Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, with allowances made for dates. I love The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, but it seems more European than American somehow, even though mostly set here. Her Ethan Frome is perhaps more quintessentially American somehow. But short. Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady is another that seems not so quintessentially American, but still strikes me as “great”.
Does a novel have to be “big” to be “great”? Can a short work, like Cynthia Ozick’s wonderful The Messiah of Stockholm, be considered great? Or is it too small, like movies that are called “small films”?
Perhaps Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift? At times, there have been subsections, like the Great Jewish American novel. I think Call it Sleep fits that and transcends it.
One could section it off into various class, ethnic, gender “greats”, but I’m generally not big on that. I like the idea that literature and the arts in general can transcend labels, cross cultures, include everything. All of it. The whole shabang. As in, life.
But if we section it off into centuries, which seems far less problematic, what would be the Great American Novel of our present century?
Good question and I hate to rank so I’ll mention some.I think Gatsby may be at the top but I’d add Moby Dick,a Henry James though not sure which one and a Wharton though I agree hers seem more Euro centered than American.I love Mark Twain though it’s his non-fiction I adore more than Huck .I’d add Last of the Mohicans because I think it is in a class by itself .More recent novels I would add On the Road and a novel that really grabbed me the first time I read it and the second was Boyles,World’s End.Of course that doesn’t include novels by native americans which is a whole other kettle of tea.You notice I left out Faulkner because I dislike the writer a great deal and Hemingway because every time I list him some Faulkner bully wants to start a fight.
I missed one I would add to the list in O Hara’s Appointment in Samarra.
I think I am agreeing with Mr. Abel in saying that of the works by Mark Twain one that is stellar and from the area of non-fiction is Life on the Mississippi.
Have not read his non-fiction. He was quite the wit, and sharp as a tack. Thanks for the rec.
I was going through my History Book Club flyer just now and there is a book in it,“Promised Land” Thirteen Books That Changed America by Jay Parini.Some of them are Walden ‚Uncle Tom’s Cabin,Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,How to Win Friends and Influence People, On The Road andseven others.Oddly Mr. Parini is listed as an author of bios of Steinbeck,Frost and Faulkner but not one of their works makes his list of thirteen.He teaches at Middlebury College.
Sounds like an interesting read. Parini’s.
Literature changing the world. Rachel Carson did with her book, too.
I loved Twain’s “Roughing It” though it is worth looking for the Mark Twain Library edition from Univ of Calif press because it contains all the original engravings also with comment underneath each one.“ATramp Abroad” was also great.I haven’t read “Innocents Abroad” yet and“Life on the Miss” was a loooong time ago so I should re-read it.I was less taken with“Following the Equator“
Thanks again, John. I’ll look for that collection. I’ve actually spent more time reading European literature than works from the US of A.
Probably need to go back and take a fresh look.
His books “A Tramp Abroad” and “Innocents Abroad” both deal with travel in Europe and the second book includes the Holy Land.
That’s a common theme among American writers and artists. Going across the pond, taking it all in, often staying there like James, Wharton, Hemingway, the expats of the 20s and later. Would have to double check, but I think Twain was probably before any mass movement for American artists overseas. Would be interesting to read his thoughts on his travels.
Hawthorne’s A Marble Faun is set in Italy and pre-dates Twain by a few years, but not that many I think.
But what recent publishing would be considered “The Great American Novel” ?
What you have to do is toss out names, if you have the courage to do so. I like Tom Wolfe and Robert Coover. Others may laugh at those choices. Sooner or later everyone begins to agree, and then you have discovered greatness.