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Choosing the Great American Novel
July 5, 2007
Here's a
wonderful question, posed by Julia Keller at The Chicago Tribune: What's the best novel written by an American that most clearly reflects the spirit, character and destiny of America, both its good and bad sides, its mistakes and its triumphs? (She asked it in time for July Fourth; hey, it's only the day after!) Keller writes:
"Before settling on Steinbeck or Ellis, I also considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's
The Great Gatsby (1925), because of its lovely theme of perpetual self-invention. It's such an American ideal, this notion of creating yourself anew -- as Gatsby, nee James Gatz, does -- and it is indestructible. Before the tragedy kicks in, America is the land toward which a man can look and see "something commensurate to his capacity for wonder."
But the tragedy must be present, too, and not just the private tragedy of a lovesick guy. That's why I put aside
Gatsby and moved on to
Grapes of Wrath, in which Steinbeck gives his homeland a sock in the jaw. It's written with ravishing biblical cadences and an epic sweep, and it's angry and bitter and unforgettable. But the country has outgrown Steinbeck, I think. His world was the world of the 1930s and '40s, and the novel, for all of its majesty, feels as dusty as Tom Joad's trousers."
This critic finally chooses
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. (If you want to send her an indignant email, her address is published in
her article.)
Hmmm, reinvention and tragedy... my pick? It's rather different. I'd choose
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Lily Bart's attempts at reinvention and her ultimate tragedy seem quintessentially American to me -- especially the tension between individual responsibility and group dynamics.
Your choices? I think we might be able to start a new list to send to Julia Keller...
Posted by Bethanne Patrick on July 5, 2007 | Comments (31)