An Introduction
Ahoy! (because this is my first blog, and I don’t know how to begin)
Speaking of not knowing how to start, this blog is but an introduction to the future blogs I plan to write. I decided a fair few months ago to write a blog, I decided a fair few weeks ago to get started, and here I am late at night with nothing to write about, so I’ll write about what I’ll write about later. And that is, I have decided, a series of reviews of the top contenders for the Great American Novel. I have several reasons for choosing this topic:
- To motivate me to read more classic American books
- To inform my own writing as I tackle the impossible goal of writing a Great American Novel
- To have more reviews to post to Goodreads
- To read all the books that should have been assigned reading in high school but which were replaced by newer books, “not because they were examples of great literature,” as per the high school teacher, the reason they were assigned not forthcoming.
- I’ll get back to you on the fifth reason in a few months, unless I forget.
Why the Great American Novel? I see three parts to this answer: Great, American, and Novel.
Great: Perhaps because it does seem like an insurmountable goal, and therefore worthy of a lifetime of attempts. Back in my ambitious, impressionable, and gullible school days, when I believed everything I was told about the importance of standardized tests, I remember being asked with incredulity by a classmate whether I was trying for a perfect score on the standardized test. I told her I wasn’t trying to answer any of the questions wrong. Why try for less than greatness? (Failing may be a valid answer, but I’ll just brush that aside for now and not plan to return to it.)
American: Firstly, I am an American, I have been my entire life, and I have no intentions to change that, so it would seem disingenuous to write anything but an American novel. Perhaps because I am American, I think it’s a fascinating culture and provides ample fodder for a lifetime of work. The spirit of individualism makes for diversity, and…clearly I have no idea what American culture is–how could a tree understand a forest? Yet still, I think I love American cultures and hopefully reading this series of novels will be enlightening.
Finally, Novel: I’ve always wanted to write books, aside from those times I wanted to be a contributing member of society. Before and after and in between those brief rebellions, I’ve wanted to be a writer, so perhaps it’s a goal to last a lifetime.
A few times I’ve mentioned a lifetime. It’s just so romantic to work on one thing for a lifetime. And I wouldn’t mind being good at something, which I imagine might require a lifetime of work.
What is a Great American Novel? According to Wikipedia, a Great American Novel is a “canonical novel that generally embodies and examines the essence and character of the United States.” Rather than formulate my own list, which would be a lofty goal in itself, I will work through Wikipedia’s list of the top contenders for the great American novel, which is as follows:
- The Last of the Mohicans: 1826, James Fenimore Cooper
- The Scarlet Letter: 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Moby-Dick: Herman Melville, 1851
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852
- Little Women: Louisa May Alcott, 1868
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Mark Twain, 1884
- The Red Badge of Courage: Stephen Crane, 1895
- McTeague: Frank Norris, 1899
- The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Anita Loos, 1925
- Absalom, Absalom: William Faulkner, 1936
- The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck, 1939
- The Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger, 1951
- Invisible Man: Ralph Ellison, 1952
- The Adventures of Augie March: Saul Bellow: 1953
- Lolita: Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
- To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee, 1960
- Gravity’s Rainbow: Thomas Pynchon, 1973
- Blood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy, 1985
- Beloved: Toni Morrison, 1987
- American Psycho: Bret Easton Ellis, 1991
- Infinite Jest: David Foster Wallace, 1996
- Underworld: Don DeLillo, 1997
- Freedom: Jonathan Franzen, 2010
- Telegraph Avenue: Michael Chabon, 2012
My lofty goal was to read and review all of these books, one per week, without interruption, until I have read and reviewed all of these books. I do get the sense, as I consider my recent past, that I’m quite good at making lofty goals and rather poor at the follow through. After all, it has taken me about a month to write this little essay, and look at how poorly it turned out after all that time. But, perhaps better to give up mid-way through than before starting? No. Upon further review, and a few chapters into Last of the Mohicans, I have decided I will write something every week, and I will write a book review only so often as I finish a book.
Earnestly yours,
Elaine Mary Griffin