Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Great American Novel Knock-out



Before we take a trip around the world for Summer Reading, let's reflect one the greatest literary debates this side of the Atlantic- the Great American Novel.

There is more criteria to the Great American Novel than just masterful writing.
The Great American Novel should capture the most elusive of literary elements - the spirit of the age in which it was written.

Many novels have been called the Great American Novel through the years, and more will be added to the list as contemporary writers tap into the zeitgeist of American life in the here and now. We've created a display with some of the major contenders alongside Great American Novel favorites William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway including members of the old guard:

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Last of the Mohicans
by James Fenimore Cooper

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton

And the new guard:

The Human Stain
by Philip Roth

The Naked and the Dead
by Normal Mailer

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

as well as some of the latest writers to enter the ring:

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

What do you think is the Great American Novel?

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