25 More Contenders for the “Great American Novel”

Great list! I like that you broke it down into themes. Several books here for me to add to my list of books to read.

One could add your list to Brian’s and receive a good education about ‘America’. I love hearing your familiarity with this vast array. (I’m trying to read East of Eden this year.)

What a great video. I've read most of these, but thanks for turning me onto a couple.

Jack, I really enjoyed this discussion and the categories you chose. Lots of food for thought.

Interesting list!

You made a brilliant case for each of your choices. Makes me want to go grab every title. Very well done.

Great list. I’m working on my own. You have a few crossovers with mine. So glad you included Vollmann. He doesn’t get enough attention.

I don't think there is a "Great American Novel" but if there was my contender would be Steinbeck's East Of Eden, which I see you mention.

Great take on all these. I have two favorites that could qualify as GANs. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson and So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell. Both are short but grand depictions of American life, powerfully examining many of the themes you flag: family, class, progress, individualism, legacy, and so on.

Very interesting approach, seeking a variety of themes that adumbrate the American experience, which of course is never singular but multiple. If I had to go with one single book to fulfill the idea of the "great American novel", I would choose 'Moby-Dick; or, The Whale', which I don't think has ever been surpassed in its ambition to encapsulate the spirit of America in one text, and to integrate it with a larger universal perspective. Another major theme I think could be introduced is that of the peculiar American obsession with religion (largely but not exclusively that of the Christian faith), and the society's schizoid relationship with the Christian legacy. Apart from the obvious example of 'The Scarlet Letter' (albeit set in the colonial era before the American republic had even been conceived), I could cite 'Two Serious Ladies' (1943) by Jane Bowles, with its strange tale of a woman seeking her own idiosyncratic brand of sanctity and failing, while her acquaintance seems to achieve it without even trying, 'Wise Blood' (1952) by Flannery O'Connor, with its antihero intent on modeling the negation of the Christian promise, and 'Housekeeping' (1980) by Marilynne Robinson, with its subtle Calvinist allegory of inevitable separation, with reward in the earthly realm contrasted with that of transcendent divine grace.

Have you read any Evan Dara? I feel like you’d like him if you like Gaddis.

All these roiling ideas could be summed up in one: “Humans have not learned how to love.”Humans are well-practiced at the hateful arts, but will not ultimately survive that. Learning to love is the only path forward.