I think most people here would agree that Americans have written some fantastic novels over the years. However, which one is worth of the title of The Great American Novel? And for the sake of definition, I'm going by this: The "Great American Novel" is the concept of a novel that most perfectly represents the spirit of life in the United States at the time of its writing. It is presumed to be written by an American author who is knowledgeable about the state, culture, and perspective of the common American citizen. It is often considered as the American response to the tradition of the national epic... In modern usage, the term is often figurative and represents a Holy Grail of writing, an ideal to strive towards, and is a source of inspiration. Aspiring writers of all ages, but especially students, are often said to be driven to write "the Great American Novel." It is, presumably, the greatest American book ever written, or which could ever be written. Thus, "Great American Novel" is a metaphor for identity, a Platonic ideal that is not achieved in any specific texts, but whose aim writers strive to mirror in their work.

Normally I's say Moby Dick. But using your definition, would people kill me if I said "The Bonfire of the Vanities"? (I think you would)

Normally I's say Moby Dick. But using your definition, would people kill me if I said "The Bonfire of the Vanities"? (I think you would)

Well I wouldn't personally...

well, it ain't American (annex those basterds already) but for me, personally, it qualifies. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland. great novel and a pretty decent depiction of pre-y2k life (if I am to be any judge of it) and end-of-times zeal.

I think the Great American Novel and the Greatest American Novel are two fundamentally different concepts. Of the novels in the poll, the more likely I think a work may represent the Great American Novel, the less I think of it in terms of Greatest American Novel and vice versa. Several works not on the list fit into my concept of the Great American Novel, but certainly could not be considered as the Greatest American Novel.

Moby Dick is surely the greatest American novel, though my personal favorite is Blood Meridian.

Normally I's say Moby Dick. But using your definition, would people kill me if I said "The Bonfire of the Vanities"? (I think you would)It was a very good book, but I don't consider it to be a classic. And I think The Right Stuff was better.

Here's some other candidates:

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
For Whom The Bell Tolls by Earnest Hemmingway
Cat's Cradle and Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (just as good as Slaughterhouse-5 if not better)

meant to vote for The Grapes of Wrath

I think the Great American Novel and the Greatest American Novel are two fundamentally different concepts. Of the novels in the poll, the more likely I think a work may represent the Great American Novel, the less I think of it in terms of Greatest American Novel and vice versa. Several works not on the list fit into my concept of the Great American Novel, but certainly could not be considered as the Greatest American Novel.

Exactmundo. Great American Novel is a quasi-genre. Greatest American Novel is the best book by an American.

One book that I think deserves to be on the list is The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer. I liked Gatsby the best though.

I don't know why Americans all seem to think that Moby Dick is one of the masterpieces of world literature. It's a lot of fun, but it's basically as if he liked the mad scenes in King Lear so much he decided to write an entire book like that. It's hardly Wuthering Heights.

How is Gone with the Wind not on this list? I'm not saying it should win but at least it deserves a mention.

I initially thought The Great Gatsby but I voted Huckleberry Finn because I feel it revealed more about the people and places in America than any other American novel. I guess it has an advantage because of the nature of the story and the main protagonist. To Kill a mockingbird also is worth a mention.

Either Twilight or Battlefield Earth.

How is Gone with the Wind not on this list? I'm not saying it should win but at least it deserves a mention.

Because no novel extolling the virtues of traitors deserves even being mentioned in a list of candidates for the Greatest American Novel.

Gone With the Wind is the kind of work I was talking about - the typical Great American Novel that many are trying to write, but not worthy at all in being considered Greatest.

In my opinion, the greatest American work of fiction is Dreams from My Father by Barack Hussain Obama.

Because no novel extolling the virtues of traitors deserves even being mentioned in a list of candidates for the Greatest American Novel.

Why not? Milton extolled the virtues of Satan and no-one seems to mind that. Surely one of the characteristics of great fiction is that it rejects any simplistic black-and-white view of the world or unrealistic heroes and villains.

In my opinion, the greatest American work of fiction is Dreams from My Father by Barack Hussain Obama.

Part of the fiction was him claiming he was American, so it doesn't qualify.

I realize that the poll can be only so big, but I think a Hemingway novel should at least be in the discussion. Be it A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, or The Sun Also Rises. I also am fairly partial to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee


This.

Every American novel I've ever read has sucked. Though to be fair I'm not really too into novels anyway.

I'd say To Kill a Mockingbird as well. Of the one's on the list, I voted The Great Gatsby.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a fantastic novel, and I voted for it.

Personally, I think East of Eden was better than The Grapes of Wrath, the latter just gets more attention because it was made into a Henry Fonda movie. Which is not to dis Henry Fonda, God knows I love him. And East of Eden doesn't really fit into the whole "snapshot of all American society" shtick that The Great American Novel supposedly has.

I voted for Huckleberry Finn, but if Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird was on the list, it would have easily gotten my vote.

I voted for Huckleberry Finn, but if Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird was on the list, it would have easily gotten my vote.

I actually meant to include it, but forgot. You can always vote for something else though.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee


This, one of the few books that made me think at school. (which we studied)

I also quite enjoyed 'Of Mice and Men'.

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk.

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam!

I went with The Great Gatsby, though I did like Scarlet Letter, though most people I know who have read it do not.

I voted for Twain, simply because calling On the Road a novel doesn't seem right to me.

Factotum.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas captures 20th/21st century America very well. The main reason being the absolute excess they go to in order to understand the American Dream.

Blood Meridian captures pre-20th century America very well. The unrestrained freedom and unhindered brutality of the novel was extremely compelling.

I won't vote because I've only read a handful of the books listed. I do think On The Road is highly over rated.

I don't think people who dislike On the Road can possibly have a clue as to what makes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas so great. Just my theory. Both books are savage journeys to the heart of the American Dream....I can understand not liking Kerouac for aesthetic reasons, I suppose...but On the Road is far from overrated. For overrated see: Hemmingway.

I don't think people who dislike On the Road can possibly have a clue as to what makes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas so great. Just my theory. Both books are savage journeys to the heart of the American Dream....I can understand not liking Kerouac for aesthetic reasons, I suppose...but On the Road is far from overrated. For overrated see: Hemmingway.

I didn't say I disliked it.

Okay...I can accept that. While Kerouac is considerably more optimistic than Thompson, both offer scathing criticism of the dominant attitudes of American national psyche. And I think the difference in tone has is primarily caused by which end of the 60's each book was written; hope was in limited supply in the foul year of our lord, 1971.

Yeah I agree there, perhaps its that pessimism that appealed to me more than anything else. In general I find it far easier to criticise than praise.

I will have to read Hemmingway, he does appear to be put on a pedestal even more than Kerouac.

wheres the god father?

Of those novels listed, very few are that author's best work. Or at least the novel I most enjoy by them.

I did like Scarlet Letter, though most people I know who have read it do not.

I read it during the late fall, so the weather, combined with the general feel of the book, left a permanent association in my mind between the book and November. Its funny, because like most books I read in high school, I really hated it at the time, but grew to like it as time went on. Now I love it. Appropriately, I now also like November more as well.

The only one I read of those is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :blush:

So I voted for it.