Has the dream of America having a literary scene able to match (or even surpass) Europe's been achieved? Does America have novels that both are of great quality and could have only been written in America? If so, what do you consider the proper contenders for the GAN?
>>25585633Moby-Dick is the only American novel that can realistically compare to a European great. Faulkner certainly gives the European modernists a run for their money but sadly falls short, despite being the best American novel. William S. Burroughs, although hardly a great American novelist in the same sense as Meville or Faulkner, is the only post-modern American writer who captured the European avant-garde. It's no surprise he spent most of his career outside of America.
>>25585639>despite being the best American novelModernist*Also, should specify novelist as well, as Pound was certainly a great American modernist.
>>25585633Moby-DickAbsalom, AbsalomMason & Dixon
>>25585633Sure it has. The US has no dearth of first-rank novelists.Just don't talk about their poets.>>25585656>Mason & DixonAn obvious and self-conscious attempt at "muh great Murcan novel." Pure prizebait.
>>25586308Emily Dickinson is the best English language poet of the past 200 years though. Pound and Eliot are pretty great too.>>25585633It’s just Moby Dick. It’s probably the greatest novel ever written but everything else from the US pales in comparison to the output of European nations.
>>25585633The Catcher in the Rye
Here is the "contenders" list according to that same wiki in OPThe Last of the MohicansThe Scarlet LetterMoby DickUncle Tom's CabinLittle WomenAdventures of Huck FinnThe Red Badge of CourageThe Great GatsbyGentlemen Prefer BlondesThe Sun Also RisesAbsalom, Absalom!Gone with the WindThe Grapes of WrathCatcher in the RyeInvisible ManAdventures of Augie MarchLolitaTo Kill a MockingbirdGravity's RainbowBlood MeridianBeloved American PsychoInfinite JestUnderworld
>>25586482>American psychoWhat?
>>25586530It's the most cynical interpretation of something being "American"
>>25585633theodore dreiser was a great authorhe used "realism" style
>>25585633I thought Blood Meridian was the current consensus pick for that title. Or is it just a small group of edgelords who say that?
>>25585639Gone with the Wind is a genuine contender. /lit/ won't admit it because it's written by a woman, but it's true.
you might not like it, but this is what the GAN looks like in 2026
>>25588831Nope nope nope
