Julia Keller, the Cultural Critic in the Chicago Tribune, has called for readers to name their choice for the Great American Novel. I'd love to email her some of your selections, or you can do it yourself; her address is: jkeller@tribune.com.

Here were some of her selections, before she finally decided on Bret Easton Ellis's "American Psycho":

~ Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy"
~ John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath"
~ E. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"
~ Willa Cather's "My Antonia" and "Sound of the Lark"
~ Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian"
~ Joyce Carol Oates's "You Must Remember This"

Here is her column.

I would probably vote for Mark Twain's Huck Finn, though I must admit I haven't read all of the works on this list. From the sound of some of the descriptions, I wouldn't want to. If I want to go the serial killer route, then give me Tim Dorsey's Serge A. Storms any day

Dunno if I am allowed to add anything as a British citizen, but my money's on The Grapes of Wrath. As an alternative I'd nominate Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I confess that there are several on the list that I've not read, however.

Well, there's always William Carlos Williams' The Great American Novel (1923). Or, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851). Either The Great Gatsby (1925) or The Grapes of Wrath (1939) would be good choices. While Ellis' American Psycho (1991) was good, I'd rather go with his first novel Less Than Zero (1985). I guess I was not surprised that no science fiction made it to her short list. Although, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) does have elements of SF.

[Addendum]

Pondering this question over coffee, I realized that science fiction was not cheesy enough to represent this country. It should be something like Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind (1936). No, probably not cheesy enough. Grace Metalious' Peyton Place (1956). Rather than the minor controversy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), go with Thomas F Dixon's The Clansman (1905).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

I vote for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but then I always vote for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

To me, "The Great American Novel" means The Great Gatsby, and there are no other acceptable answers.

Of course you're allowed to guess, Arnie!

I didn't want to slant others' views, but I wasn't all that impressed with the critic's choices. Don't get me wrong; it's all good literature, but I'd hardly rate Cather's "My Antonia" as the great American novel.

No Mark Twain? William Faulkner (I love "The Sound and the Fury")? Herman Melville ("Moby Dick" is another favorite of mine)? John Updike? I just thought her selections were odd.

Z, I think coffee does something to your brain. You like Pynchon; would you mention him as a runner up, at least?

I suppose I'd choose Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury."

My colleague said there'd be no contest for her; she'd take Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."

I have one question. While the columnist only talked about choosing your favorite great American novel, one site said that to be the 'great American novel,' the novel should perfectly represent life in the U.S. Is that what is meant by the Great American novel, do you think? I just was trying to come up with my favorite novels.

You like Pynchon; would you mention him as a runner up, at least?

While I'd argue that Pynchon's first (V.) and third (Gravity's Rainbow) novels are brilliant, I wouldn't put either in the Great American Novel category. I'd have to agree with neveu though on Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Now that's a great American novel. I'm not quite sure what caffeine does to my poor addled brainpane, but Puzo's Godfather just surfaced in my consciousness as another cheesy candidate.

The wiki site Kalleh cited says The Great American Novel is the one that best captures the spirit of the country of its era. Not to be obvious, but I think you have to tack on the idea that its themes are so universal as still to speak to us today; it has to be prophetic in a way, or to have captured something so quintessentially American that it's still instructive today.

I can't imagine why that columnist even had An American Psycho on the list. I thought it was a creepy but original and fascinating tour de force. I could see it as representing a certain culture-- a great send-up of "the Me Generation"-- but not a broad enough sweep for the GAN. If we're going to be very down on ourselves, though, a la zmj, I'd vote for the English novel A Quiet American! Graham Greene certainly had our number & it's truer today than ever.

I was happy to see Absalom, Absalom on wiki's list. The caliber of the writing is such that every tiny scene has stayed with me as though it happened in my own life-- and the content seems to get right at how our country has developed over the last 150 yrs. The only other novel which has struck me the same way-- perhaps a nomination for 'The Great European Novel'-- is Anna Karenina.

If we're going to be very down on ourselves, though, a la zmj, I'd vote for the English novel A Quiet American!

Ah, well now, if we're including British Great American Novels, I'd have to nominate Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Hemingway: "The Old Man and the Sea" won both the Pulitzer and the Nobel prizes. For novels exuding the unique American spirit of their times, Sinclair Lewis' "Elmer Gantry," James Fenimore Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans," and Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage" ought to be listed. Except for the Hemingway, these are not the novels I have loved the most, but they certainly represent landmarks in American Lit.

And where is J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye?"

I would not include Gatsby, since the novel itself leaves me cold, and having read "Zelda,a Biography," by Nancy Milford, I'd go along with the many who believe that F. Scott lifted entire passages from his mentally ill wife's diaries to fill out his novels. As Zelda once said, F. Scott "believes that plagiarism begins at home."

For the title of THE great American novel, though, I think I'd have to agree with those who said Harpur Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," with "Tom Sawyer," and "Huckleberry Finn" close seconds.

Wordmatic

Well, of course, what did happen to "The Old Man and the Sea?" And also Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin?"

I think I'd have to go with Mark Twain, though. I am going to give this 'til tomorrow, and then I will email her with some of our selections. I certainly agree about "Psycho," Bethree. That's right up there with "Peyton Place" in my mind. By the way, another a la zmj novel might be "Portnoy's Complaint." Remember the liver scene?

Perhaps we should start another thread on the Greatest British Novel?

No, but I remember, with startling clarity, the title of the first chapter of of Fear of Flying by Erica Jong

Some of my Fave Brit Novels:
Jane Eyre--Charlotte Bronte
Tom Jones--Henry Fielding
To the Lighthouse--Virginia Woolf

Ah, yes..."Fear of Flying;" that's another a la zmj book. Hey, maybe we've started a new word here!

Let's save the British novels for another thread.

I recently read an interview with an American novelist. To my shame, I can't remember who it was now; the name was familiar to me, but I'd not read any of his books.

Anyway, he was asked which book had left him cold. He replied that although it was a Great American Novel (his reported phrase) he had never been able to finish Moby Dick as it contained too much about information about whales.

Most school kids are given the abridged version of Moby Dick to read. My parents had the unabridged on the shelf and I read every word when I was about 15. The whaling parts were fascinating, but it was all very technical; all about harpoons with illustrations of the various lengths and styles of barbs; how to find, spear and kill a whale from the smaller skiffs or whatever they were; haul it on board the ship, butcher it clean it; all about blubber, oil, skin and meat, going on for pages and pages and pages. I wonder if I still have that copy of the book--I ended up with the bookcase it was in, and now I'll have to go look again.

Having read that, there is no way that I would ever go to sea as a whaler, even if this were 200 years ago, even if I were young and male and in top physical condition, even if I had no other work. Moby Dick makes it clear that this is a terrifying and dangerous occupation, but these sections of the book are more like a Whaling for Dummies manual, and are not part of the fictional narrative itself. Today's publishers would make Melville chop all of that, like so much blubber, and advise him to write a related manuscript.

Wordmatic

I would put forth that the GAN does need to be finely written, an enjoyable read, and something that speaks to us today . . . and bethree5 said so nicely . . .

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it has to be prophetic in a way, or to have captured something so quintessentially American that it's still instructive today.

I would stick with Twain or Steinbeck or I would suggest The Frontiersmen by Allan W. Eckert. It is a great book that captures the emotions of Manifest Destiny, and isn't as schlogging of a read as Cooper's Mohicans (in my opinion one of the very few works that was better as a movie than a book).

I would also have no qualms casting a bid for Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird is still one of the most moving, influential books I've ever read.

I'm going to find and read A Quiet American now - must see what you're all talking about.

Oh, goody, Caterwauller, hope you feel like trading commentary afterward (re: Greene's A Quiet American). My book club just read it 2 mos. ago, & blast, I could barely get a word in edgewise!!

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Originally posted by bethree5:
The wiki site Kalleh cited says The Great American Novel is the one that best captures the spirit of the country of its era. Not to be obvious, but I think you have to tack on the idea that its themes are so universal as still to speak to us today; it has to be prophetic in a way, or to have captured something so quintessentially American that it's still instructive today.

I must champion the cause of Gatsby here. The theme of wild hedonism eventually leading to everything falling apart was written 5 years before the Great Depression. It is clear at the end of the book that the wild times have faded and everyone is depressed. Furthermore, the whole "Dot com" boom and bust eerily played out almost like this novel.

This captures, I think, a fundamental bit of the American spirit. When times are good, things are great. The wild parties, the money, the booze, the girls, life in the fast lane, take no prisoners, etc. When things are bad, we take a deep breath, look back at the good times, and try and get them back. We know there are always going to be bad times in the future, but even still we try to fight it, we drink life to the lees. We can come from nothing and become something wonderful, but we always return to where we were, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly to the past.

And if that doesn't convince you: Andy Kaufman?

My vote:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee....

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee....

Only book she wrote, too.

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I must champion the cause of Gatsby here.

Ah, it's the hedonism that leaves me cold, Sean. I don't identify with these characters and have no empathy for them in their downfall. Never have been a fast lane kind of person. It is a beautifully written book; I'll give you that, and somewhat spellbinding; certainly a portrait of its times in one small segment of society. But reading it left me feeling depressed and empty. Not for long. I'm not a depressed and empty person, but why even hang around with books like that? They're a bad crowd! I'd rather be inspired or amused or intrigued or transported by a Great American Novel--not left down in the dumps.

Wordmatic

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But reading it left me feeling depressed and empty

There are so many classic books which leave you feeling depressed and empty. Macbeth? The Plague? 100 Years of Solitude?

I think Seanahan's on the right track, comparing Gatsby to MacBeth-- it's a tragedy, Greek-style. Doesn't leave me feeling depressed & empty, but the classic tragedy seems to me a bit narrow in scope & too intellectual to fit my idea of The Great American Novel.

100 Years of Solitude (were it American!) fills the bill for me. Huge scope, every character filled out to the max, deals in depth with love, war, death; plenty of humor to balance the pathos. Its story of a village & the village's founder can be seen in microcosm as the story of the human race-- & from another angle, as the story of any Latin American country.

I love Mockingbird but I think its value is in putting one important aspect of American society under a microscope, giving it a very specific time, place, feel, so as to make it accessible. Scout's voice is so human that it places the novel head & shoulders above many. KHC, have you read Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison? A terrific contemporary novel in a similar vein.

Have not read Bastard out of Carolina, bethree.... but I will find it soon and let you know! Thanks.

The question for me when it comes to choosing what is the Great American Novel is this: what part(s) of the American Spirit and/or History do we wish to claim as ours? Do we want to proclaim that the idea of Manifest Destiny is our founding principle, thus veering towards something like The Last of the Mohicans or The Frontiersmen? Do we want to show the indominatable spirit and strength of character that gets us through the hard times as in Grapes of Wrath? Would we like to hold up our sense of adventure and showcase the vast beauty of our land and choose something like On the Road or Huck Finn? Or perhaps we'd rather be cynical and "honest" and show the folly of "our" hedonism and selfishness and choose The Great Gatsby or Catcher in the Rye.

The thing is, I find it hard to put our entire country into a little box and choose one book that would represent "us". We have too many people, and even in our short history, we have had too many different movements, moments of defeat and triumph, and too many inspiring thoughts.

Being an optimist and someone who prefers the power of positive thinking and inspiration, I would vote more on the side of Twain or Eckert.

My choice for the great American novel is "Dalva" by Jim Harrison. This book really moved me. I wanted to meet its characters and talk to them. I was tempted to travel to its settings to see if they were like they were in the book. This story truly encompasses America, from the days of Crazy Horse, to present times. If you haven't read this book, do so immediately and let me know what you think.