Which novel do you think qualifies as the Great American Novel and why?
People from other countries what would you consider the Great Your Country Novel?
Phillip Roth’s The Great American Novel, of course.
The term “Great American Novel” is a cliche that refers to a novel that aspiring writers want to write, but never actually manage to write, for whatever reasons. It actually assumes that the U.S. still hasn’t produced a “great” novel, and is a trope in fiction for portraying a character as an idealistic, yet unsuccessful, writer who never gets around to producing said novel.
It also assumes that there is some potential novel to be written in the U.S. that will somehow be “great,” that is, greater than all other novels already written, and somehow distinctly “American” and unlike any other novel written throughout the English-speaking world.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Ah yeah I know that so maybe I should rephrase the OP.
What do you think is the definitive “American” novel? That is, the novel you would most recommend to an outsider to explain American life, culture.
Wow, that’s a really good question, because “America” is so varied, and some of the greatest novels, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as mentioned above, are not so relevant to modern-day United States, though they be great works. At Berkeley I majored in English, and specialized in Victorian English novels, but I was required to take a course in the “American novel.” I’m hard put to find one that is definitively American, simply because the culture has changed so much. I guess you need to say which “America” you want to read about–historically, geographically, and ethnically.
There are many, many different Americas.
Why is America confined to having only one Great Novel, in this argument? Is there a single Great British Novel?
Good question. Huckleberry Finn may be the earliest that has a good shot at being the “Great American Novel” in that sense—though of course it doesn’t show what America is like nowadays. A case could be made for To Kill a Mockingbird.
I don’t know what novel best exemplifies what American life and culture are nowadays. I’m having trouble thinking of good candidates even. I’m interested to see what other people will say, both for America and for other countries.
Ah it’s more of an IMHO thing but I’d like people to explain their choices so it isn’t necessarily singular. I don’t want this just to become a list of American novels though. 
There might well be a single Great British Novel, I don’t know but I imagine there are any number of answers.
Yes, and it is 003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior.
I think The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is more likely than any other American novel to go the distance.
Ask the question a century from now, and I think you’re likely to receive an identical answer; no other novel has so perfectly captured the Zeitgeist as Huckleberry Finn, and I think no other novel shall, though To Kill A Mocking Bird comes close. Huckleberry Finn really encapsulates a timeless America, I think.
Maybe “milestone” novel works better? Novels that encompass a particular period in American history, cultural shifts, etc. There will be lots of those.
I think Paradise Falls by Don Robertson qualifies. It takes place just after the Civil War, when we were moving from an agrarian economy/rural life to urban/industrial. The main character is a ruthless, amoral man who becomes successful but doesn’t find “happiness”. It’s a great read. Tragically out of print but used copies are everywhere. (I adore Don Robertson.)
That’s another hard question. I don’t think you can pin down just one for British novels, but personally, just for the fun of it, I’d say Vanity Fair, though most would opt for something by Dickens or one of the Brontes.
The novel, as a form of fiction, has distinct origins in western Europe, so other countries don’t emphasize it as much as some kind of culturally defining genre. They all have them, but they seem to have a sense that it’s a cultural import.
But for some countries, I bet the people of those countries would have a pretty unanimous answer.
France: Madam Bovary
Spain: Don Quixoti
Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Germany: [Something by Goethe]
I always took “the Great American Novel” to mean “the great novel that expresses, better than any other, the American character.” The Great Novel of American-ness. It’s a commentary on the writer’s ambition, not on the fact that Americans have written zero great novels. Or that’s how I interpreted it.
As far as TGAN in that sense, even if the category is silly, I think the easiest nominees are Huck Finn and The Great Gatsby. A well-read friend of mine once suggested Ellison’s Invisible Man.
Another vote for Huck Finn, because it perfectly evokes a quitesennially American place and time (staging, characters, descriptions), and because it’s a great book (plot).
Good point.
In light of “milestones,” I would also recommend The Red Badge of Courage and The Grapes of Wrath. The former because the Civil War changed the country in so many ways, and the latter because migration to the west of the country set the ground for California to become an economic and cultural force.
Really, the OP needs to choose at least five novels to really get a feel for the culture, etc. of the U.S. Just compare The Grapes of Wrath with Catcher in the Rye. Neither will give you a comprehensive view of U.S. culture, but both are kind of essential nonetheless.
Yes, I’d include Gatsby (though I wasn’t really impressed by it, nor by Catcher in the Rye), simply because of its influence. But, yes, if I had only one to choose, I’d choose Huck Finn.
I think some will say that there’s a difference from being “great” and being a novel that coveys the country’s culture, especially to people who haven’t lived in the country.
I always thought that “The Great American Novel” was never meant to be singular. That it had always referred to a number(very limited of course)of book that used a narrative form to describe a particular slice of America relevant to a time and place, and of course near critical consensus that it is a good book… Most of my professors put 10-15ish books in the Great American Novel category with some discrepancies.
How about “The Bonfire of the Vanities” for “Great American Novel” of the 1980s?
If you’re going to pick novels that depict our country in certain eras,* Now Playing At Canterbury *by Vance Bourjaily resonates with me. Published in 1977 and now out of print.
The Great Texas Novel? Lonesome Dove.
(Yes, “The Great American Novel” is kind of a joke.)
I’d go with Dos Passos’s USA Trilogy, myself. It’s three separate books, but they definitely form a cohesive picture, and they’re fairly modern (in content and style as well as chronologically), as well.