The Problem with the Great American Novel...

[Terrance]

Mark David Tristan Brenchley wrote:
> 
>  IS it me, or is the concept of the Great American novel not just a bit
> jingoistic? Why don't they just try to write a great novel?

I don't think the idea idea is jingoistic, just the opposite
I'd say, and  of course American's  have written plenty of
great american novels. 



> 
>  Typical Americans, always trying to export there country somewhere else
> 
> Mark


I don't think this is typical of Americans.  America, or the
USA, we use
these terms synonymously here, and this may not be
politically
correct but it's not simply a reflection of U.S. American
arrogance
either. The US, unlike so many Nations around the globe,
does not suffer from extreme nationalism. It has practiced
an especially repugnant and belligerent "foreign domestic"
(see VL)  policy wrapped in a pornographic, faded plastic, 
chauvinistic patriotism, but  the U.S. is not an exporter of
its country. The facts,  not that the world is a totality of
facts not of
things Ludwig, do  not support this. 



> P.S. sorry if the emails are seeming a bit flipant, but 39 hrs without
> sleep will do that to a guy.

Might I suggest a great Irish novel to help you sleep,
Famine.