"Great" means not just good, artistic, well-crafted, but also "large." Gatsby has scope-- but is still a novella encompassing a fairly narrow world. The vastness of America is alluded to, albeit very well! A "greater" novel (I won't name Melville's obvious example) is The Octopus by Frank Norris. It's vaster, much more ambitious-- and not without its own artistry. Not the artistry of well-crafted sentences (which the reader doesn't notice once he's into the story) but the artistry of constructing a coherent narrative encompassing many characters and plot threads; a narrative which builds in power and meaning throughout the course of the novel, before exploding with crashing emotional power like a great symphony. "Great"! We'd give two or three of Beethoven's symphonies that designation, but not his Moonlight Sonata, as evocative and artistic as that is.
"Great" means not just good, artistic, well-crafted, but also "large." Gatsby has scope-- but is still a novella encompassing a fairly narrow world. The vastness of America is alluded to, albeit very well!
ReplyDeleteA "greater" novel (I won't name Melville's obvious example) is The Octopus by Frank Norris. It's vaster, much more ambitious-- and not without its own artistry. Not the artistry of well-crafted sentences (which the reader doesn't notice once he's into the story) but the artistry of constructing a coherent narrative encompassing many characters and plot threads; a narrative which builds in power and meaning throughout the course of the novel, before exploding with crashing emotional power like a great symphony.
"Great"! We'd give two or three of Beethoven's symphonies that designation, but not his Moonlight Sonata, as evocative and artistic as that is.