In 1896, a little-known writer named John William DeForest proposed a new kind of literature for a relatively new nation. He called this new breed of fiction The Great American Novel and imagined it would accomplish “the task of painting the American soul.” At the time, DeForest admitted that no writer had yet achieved the mantle of writing The Great American Novel, although that was not entirely true.
In 1884, Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel that today many would cite as a strong contender for The Great American Novel. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was released even earlier, in 1852. A year prior, Herman Melville published Moby Dick. Indeed, American writers have been creating great American novels even before we had the language to describe them as such.
Later contenders for the title include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987), Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird (1960), and many more. But what is it that makes these novels great? Perhaps even more interesting a question, what makes them American? We’ll be breaking down these two critical adjectives to better understand what it is that makes these texts so essential to understanding our national identity, and why they merit the lofty title of The Great American Novel.
Questions of Greatness
While all art is subjective, there are some common denominators when it comes to great literature.
- A Memorable Protagonist. Great literature does not demand its characters be likeable, relatable, or even reliable, but it does demand they be memorable. From the single-minded obsession of Captain Ahab to the charm and mischief of Huck Finn, classic literature features classic characters who we remember long after we’ve put down the book in which they live. Great literature demands complex, fully-formed characters with vivid and distinct identities who have strong points of view on their circumstances and the world around them.
- A Story That Examines the Human Experience. Another factor that determines great literature is its ability to transcend the specifics of its plot and encompass something profound about what it means to be human. While To Kill a Mockingbird may take place in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, and while much of its plot relies on cultural prejudices rooted in the American South, the novel says something larger and more encompassing about belonging, identity, and inclusion. Every person, no matter when they live or where they are from, can understand what it means to exclude someone from a community for something they cannot control.
- A Distinct Style. It is not only plot and character that a great novel maketh. It is also the manner in which the story is told. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby endures as much because of its profound message as the manner in which that message is communicated. Fitzgerald’s lush, layered prose is bright and vivid and has enchanted readers for a century. Alternatively, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms (1929) was innovative for its sparse, controlled prose that proved there is just as much power in what goes unsaid. William Faulkner holds the world record for the longest published sentence in Absalom, Absalom! (1936)—eight distinct scenes, over a dozen characters, and clocking in at 1,288 words!
What Makes Literature American?
Can books have a national identity? In order for a book to be American, does the author have to be? Does it have to be written or published in the U.S.— this would exclude The Great Gatsby, which was largely written in France, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was originally published in the U.K. In the 19th century, American literature was largely defined as a counterpoint to British literature, positioned in opposition to Great British Novels such as Pride and Prejudice (1813), Great Expectations (1861), and Jane Eyre (1847).
If John William DeForest’s initial guideline of “painting the American soul” is the working criteria, there are a few essential themes and commonalities we can examine in terms of what makes a novel “American.”
- Focus on Individualism. America is a nation that places value on individual identity and achievement, so it makes sense that our literature does too. Even stories that feature multiple perspectives and points of view are largely concerned with individual identity versus communal ties. Compare Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) to the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece Things Fall Apart, published only six years after Ellison’s novel. Both deal directly with the effects of racism, but in very different ways. Ellison’s novel explores the harmful effects of racism on one individual’s psyche, while Achebe’s documents its effect on a community. American literature, by and large, does not document the interconnected nature of communal ties the same way as books from Nigeria (or other countries with a stronger emphasis on community) might.
- Pervasive Nostalgia. Another core element of American literature is a longing for or romanticization of the past. Jay Gtsby declares, “Can’t repeat the past, why of course you can!” Even Toni Morrison’s Beloved, when describing the horrors of slavery, does so through a tinge of homesick recollection. The plantation upon which so much brutality occurs is called “Sweet Home.” That is part of what makes Morrison’s novel so great, it captures the complex dynamic between pain and nostalgia, beauty and atrocity. As writer Sara Hildreth says, “While Americans are obsessed with the past and the way it tethers us, we also seem to believe in—or want to believe in—our ability to shed our skin and become someone new.”
Original Sin and Shining Ideals. Similar to how quintessentially American it is to long for the past while dreaming of the future, American literature also reckons with the contradiction of our nation’s founding—our “shining city on a hill” that was built on genocide and slavery. A truly great American novel must reckon with both the high ideals of what the founding fathers said America could be and the original sin they embedded in its very creation. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Beloved, The Grapes of Wrath and more accomplish this perfectly—featuring characters who endure unimaginable hardship out of the belief that this country can offer them something brighter and better.
To learn more, check out:
What Makes a Great American Novel? by Sara Hildreth
