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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2010 > February > 17 > Entry
Who’s still working on the Great American Novel?
Sometimes, you have to step outside your culture to really see inside it.
This insightful, engaging piece from the Guardian in London takes a look at who’s left from the generation of great American writers who came of age during WWII, now that JD Salinger has died. Add to the list of recent losses Mailer, Updike, Vonnegut and others, and this writer makes the claim that Philip Roth is the only great writer left from that defining generation.
Except, not entirely. He goes on to discuss plenty of other writers who are moving American letters forward, one book at a time. Some interesting names pop up, but there are others who get short shrift, I think.
So, who’s got your vote for the best novelist working?
And what’s the Great American Novel? Don’t say “Moby-Dick.” That’s at least one thing this essay gets wrong.
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By Steve Thorn
February 17, 2010 7:28 PM | Link to this
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian. I would nominate me, but the Great American Novel has not come out of me yet, just sci-fi. :)