Monday, June 05, 2006

You've heard that all news is local ...

... but did you ever think all literature was? According to Susan Straight, That's why the search for one Great American Novel is misguided. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

And while it's on my mind, how come Thomas Wolfe didn't make that Power Line list?

3 comments:

  1. If this is the same as the great american novel list, I think it is 25 years old max.
    Pity that lets out Wolfe, and a lot of other good writers.

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  2. I was thinking of that other list, at Power Line, of the best American novel ever. Huckleberry Finn won. I also think I wasn't thinking very clearly, since, while I admire Wolfe - more than I do Hemingway or Faulkner or Fitzgerald - I don't hink he worte the best American novel ever.

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  3. I agree it is quite a challenge to think of the "best American novel ever"........how would Steinbeck do? Pretty high. I have to admit I like Fitzgerald (most) and some of Hemingway (not all). Faulkner I just do not follow, but my Dad, who has never been to the USA in his life, is a huge fan of Faulkner and has read them all more than once.

    When we have these things over in the UK for the "best" British novel, Pride and Prejudice usually wins, unless the Tolkein crew get in with their vote-swamping techniques.

    But though I adore Austen, what of Dickins, Eliot, Thackeray, and all the rest? These "bests of" are really impossible aren't they?

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