The Great American Novel: what this means to a Brit.

 I've just closed the back cover on The Dutch House by Ann Patchet. And as I did so, satiated by the story I'd just read, the thought came to me, unannounced, that this was a Great American Novel.  But then I thought, what do I even mean by this? What is a Great America Novel? My mind went back to perhaps 20 years, when I was gifted a lovely copy of Moby Dick, in a tiny, fat format of hardback, complete and unabridged. When I started it, I was really worried I'd get bored, but the opposite happened. I got absorbed. Surely Melville's classic story of whaling is a GAN, and yet it could not be more different to The Dutch House, or for that matter, books I know are GAN, like Huckleberry Finn and Little Women. Or books I hear being given that accolade like The World According to Garp (Irving), Pastoral (Roth), and Breathing Lessons (Tyler). 

I had to sit and finish thinking about this, the dog at my chair asking for her walk, the washing up still piled, my cuppa going cold. 

I associate with GANs with familial stories that examine the human condition by following life's struggles within a family. The writing has a mostly pragmatic style. They often following a single, larger-than-life character (apart from Overstory, which has seemingly thousands) with whom it is surprisingly easy to emphathise. Add to that compassionate, rich, storytelling, and (commonly) a small town setting, a feeling of the pioneering spirit, and a sense of revealing the 'understory', even when that is less than palitable. 

The Athenæum suggests that: A “Great American Novel” is a work of fiction that captures the essence of the American experience. These novels offer insights into the cultural, social, and historical fabric of the United States...an ever-evolving concept that reflects the diverse and dynamic nature of American society. These works offer a profound and multifaceted exploration of the American experience, capturing the nation’s triumphs, struggles, and aspirations. 

Other writers consider it a 'myth', something invented to give US writers a common bond. John William De Forest first came up with this, arguing that the ultimate American book would paint a complete picture of the national soul and society (although he concluded it had not yet been written). This dates back to the-Civil War, that 'joining together of the nation', and the desire to prove that American culture was as rich, mature, and unified as European traditions. 

Myth or not, I believe that there is a definitive American 'voice', which comes through many of these books, with lines like these...124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children. (Toni Morrison…), and...Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater. (John Irving), and…Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. (Louisa May Alcott ), and..."They were supposed to stay at the beach a week, but neither of them had the heart for it and they decided to come back early." (Anne Tyler), and…First there was nothing. Then there was everything. Then, in a park above a western city after dusk, the air is raining messages. A woman sits on the ground, leaning against a pine. Its bark presses hard against her back, as hard as life. Its needles scent the air and a force hums in the heart of the wood. Her ears tune down to the lowest frequencies. The tree is saying things, in words before words. (Overstory, by Richard Powers).

Or for that matter the book that started me thinking about all this…The first time our father brough Andrea to the Dutch House, Sandy, our housekeeper, came to my sister's room and told us to come downstairs. "Your father has a friend he wants you to meet, she said. (Ann Patchet)

I'll be loaning this book out, seeing it was from a Charity Shop, but make no mistake, I won't be allowing any spoilers to go with it. I might tell people, I thought I could see what the end of this book

Ann Patchet

would be from easily half-way through. In fact I was sure I know the denouément. But actually, that didn't turn out to be the end at all. And that was a shock. Several shocks, one after the other. I might also say that, to me, this is the absolute thesis of the GAN. A perfect example; a family of larger-than-life characters, with a single, identifiable narrator who has a compassionate, yet humanly flawed outlook, offering a cultural example of the society it's set in, while revealling an 'understory' that is uncomfortable.

Danny, and his big sister Maeve, stay trapped in their disruptive and fairly unloved childhoods, where they looked out for each other. They hate the Dutch House, and yet, they can't help going back to it, all the time. The story explores family trauma, sibling bonds and, of course the way our dwellings––the Dutch House in question––might actually shape a person's entire life.

https://www.businessinsider.com/great-american-novel-locations-map-hip-2015-11