25 More Contenders for the “Great American Novel”

25 books I recommend as a great novel from the US organized chronologically within themes.
0:00 Introduction
1:04 Redemption
6:12 Conspiracy/Individualism
11:29 Legacy
19:16 Greed
25:01 Race
30:31 Subverting the Dream
Brian ‪@BookishTexan‬ and his list: • 25 Books That Could Be...
Inspired by Greg’s video ‪@SupposedlyFun‬ : • Reacting to The Atlant...
Redemption:
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937) my discussion: • Their Eyes Were Watchi...
East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1952)
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977) my discussion: • Song of Solomon by Ton...
Conspiracy/Individualism:
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)
Libra by Don DeLillo (1988) my discussion: • Libra by Don DeLillo (...
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson (1992)
Legacy:
Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott (1868-69)
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner (1936)
American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1997)
Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen (2008)
Greed:
McTeague by Frank Norris (1899)
House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905)
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1930)
JR by William Gaddis (1975)
Race:
Cane by Jean Toomer (1923) my discussion: • Cane by Jean Toomer (e...
Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979) my discussion: • Kindred by Octavia E. ...
Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison (1999) my discussion: • Juneteenth by Ralph El...
The Round House by Louise Erdrich (2012)
Subverting the American Dream:
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes (1947)
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (1960)
Ragtime by EL Doctorow (1975)
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin (1988)
The Dying Grass by William T. Vollmann (2015)
#booktube

[@BookishTexan]

Great list! I like that you broke it down into themes. Several books here for me to add to my list of books to read.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

Now I'm curious to see which of us has read more from the other's list!?!

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

One could add your list to Brian’s and receive a good education about ‘America’. I love hearing your familiarity with this vast array. (I’m trying to read _East of Eden_ this year.)

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

Thanks, David. I hope you enjoy East of Eden. I've read it twice, and my wife is also a huge fan of it.

[@FollowSmoke]

What a great video. I've read most of these, but thanks for turning me onto a couple.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@anenthusiasticreader]

Jack, I really enjoyed this discussion and the categories you chose. Lots of food for thought.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

Thanks for the kind words, Sonya.

[@jamesholder13]

Interesting list!

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

Thanks, James!

[@dagmoon]

You made a brilliant case for each of your choices. Makes me want to go grab every title. Very well done.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

Thanks for the kind words! Have you read any of these?

[@dagmoon]

@@ramblingraconteur1616 Let's see...I've read Scarlett Letter, Their Eyes, Little Women, and House of Mirth. I have sitting literally on my To Read shelf for 2024 East of Eden (working through reading all of Steinbeck), Song of Solomon (same with Morrison), and Jesus' Son (just finished Train Dreams and my heart is still pounding with love for it). I also have waiting, been nearly permanently waiting, Moby Dick. I am just finishing up Aspects of the Novel by E M Forster and he has made me double down my commitment to reading that classic. I wonder have you read Aspects of the Novel? I'm dying with gratitude to Forster, feeling frisky by his humble but "kapow!" takes on the novel. I'm mentally reviewing all the novels I've read (the memorable ones anyway) and wonder if any others feel that way about AotN. Or am I just the last person on earth to make my way to it and it's eyerolling old hat? In addition I have read other works by some authors you listed including Faulkner and Le Guin, two authors that I'm always up for giving their works a try. Your recommendation of Always Coming Home has made it a definite for my next book shopping spree. I must say, again, your articulate summaries, done with infectious enthusiasm makes me want to read everything you have listed. Except Gravity's Rainbow. Ha. I know my intellectual limits. Oh yes, and thank you for the question. It's a nice surprise when YT is two-way communication.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

@@dagmoon I have not read Aspects of the Novel, so I’ll have to look for that one. I read a few Forster novels in 2010, and I enjoyed Howard’s End, but I have not really returned to his works since then. Thanks for the suggestion! Gravity’s Rainbow is a trip, but it’s more accessible than many give it credit for because the jokes are layered, and many are accessible. I hope you have a great weekend!

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

Great list. I’m working on my own. You have a few crossovers with mine. So glad you included Vollmann. He doesn’t get enough attention.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

I'll be looking forward to yours, Greg, and not just for the crossovers. What is your favorite among Vollmann's novels?

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

@@ramblingraconteur1616 Fathers and Crows or The Dying Grass. Hard to choose.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

@@anotherbibliophilereads those are probably my two favorites as well. I didn’t find Europe Central hitting the same nerve as those, and Argall was possibly the single toughest read in his bibliography.

[@davidhall8656]

Great take on all these. I have two favorites that could qualify as GANs. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson and So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell. Both are short but grand depictions of American life, powerfully examining many of the themes you flag: family, class, progress, individualism, legacy, and so on.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

Thanks for the kind words, David. It's been really interesting over the past 4-5 years to see how many of us love books by Denis Johnson. Tree of Smoke is probably my favorite by him along with Jesus' Son, but so many of his books are gems. I'm going to have to open up So Long, See You Tomorrow soon. I've had a couple of friends recommend it over the next year.

[@davidhall8656]

@@ramblingraconteur1616 jesus' son was my introduction to Johnson in a first year college course, and, after an adolescence with very little reading for pleasure, his story Emergency was one of the first to connect and really hook me as a reader. I've gone on to read a few of his books, and Train Dreams is a fav, but Jesus' Son will always be an important formative influence. I still need to get to Tree of Smoke. So Long, See You Tomorrow is written in a very different, but equally moving style, and like Train Dreams it punches over its weight, in few pages it mastefully brings to life a rural-to-modern transitional era of US history that I had never thought of before and, thanks to the book, will never forget.

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

I don't think there is a "Great American Novel" but if there was my contender would be Steinbeck's East Of Eden, which I see you mention.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

I read East of Eden twice, across about 12 years, and I found it to be a very powerful work both times.

[@barrymoore4470]

Very interesting approach, seeking a variety of themes that adumbrate the American experience, which of course is never singular but multiple. If I had to go with one single book to fulfill the idea of the "great American novel", I would choose 'Moby-Dick; or, The Whale', which I don't think has ever been surpassed in its ambition to encapsulate the spirit of America in one text, and to integrate it with a larger universal perspective. Another major theme I think could be introduced is that of the peculiar American obsession with religion (largely but not exclusively that of the Christian faith), and the society's schizoid relationship with the Christian legacy. Apart from the obvious example of 'The Scarlet Letter' (albeit set in the colonial era before the American republic had even been conceived), I could cite 'Two Serious Ladies' (1943) by Jane Bowles, with its strange tale of a woman seeking her own idiosyncratic brand of sanctity and failing, while her acquaintance seems to achieve it without even trying, 'Wise Blood' (1952) by Flannery O'Connor, with its antihero intent on modeling the negation of the Christian promise, and 'Housekeeping' (1980) by Marilynne Robinson, with its subtle Calvinist allegory of inevitable separation, with reward in the earthly realm contrasted with that of transcendent divine grace.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

I completely agree that the community and identity that individuals in the US derive from religion is a crucial theme. I originally had the "redemption" section labeled with "religion", but I found that the books I was narrowing it down to had a more singular focus. Wise Blood is a great novel. Both that and The Violent Bear it Away were among the list of books I drafted before making this and two of the very last books I left off. I haven't read Housekeeping, but I really enjoyed Gilead. I'll also have to explore Two Serious Ladies. Thanks for the recommendations, Barry.

[@autofocus4556]

Have you read any Evan Dara? I feel like you’d like him if you like Gaddis.

[@ramblingraconteur1616]

I'll have to check out Evan Dara. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@pjs1447]

All these roiling ideas could be summed up in one: “Humans have not learned how to love.”Humans are well-practiced at the hateful arts, but will not ultimately survive that. Learning to love is the only path forward.