The Dream of the Great American Novel
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The Dream of the Great American Novel
| Author | Lawrence Buell |
|---|---|
| Published | 2014 |
| Pages | 584 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Lawrence Buell on why the idea of a single Great American Novel persists, and which books keep getting nominated — his case runs from The Scarlet Letter to Beloved. |
Where I heard about it
- Aaron Gwyn (@AmericanGwyn) — recommended it on X, February 2026, calling it “Buell’s magnificent study of American fiction” and listing the books Buell makes the case for: “The Scarlett Letter, Moby-Dick, Huck Finn, The Invisible Man, Beloved, and Absalom, Absalom.”
Connections
- Blood Meridian — the book Kyle himself described as the Great American Novel on reading it; this is the scholarly version of that argument.
- Republic of Letters
- Language of Discourse — a canon is a vocabulary.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.