MDMD and the meaning of life

[Terrance]

Paul Nightingale wrote:

 One of the worst novels ever written in the English language
> (I cannot bear to mention its title or author in the company of Pynchon) was
> said, by some at the time, to have 'inspired' the anti-slavery movement in
> the years preceding the American Civil War. I rather suspect this wasn't the
> case, but it was offered as a point of view, at the time.

So, you're the little lady who started this big war. Or something like
that. 
I wonder how many people liked that novel when they read it at a
youngster and changed their opinion as they matured and as its
reputation fell. Same with Cooper. 


I took a course in American novels or something like that.  We read
Huck, UT, Red Badge, one of the Cooper novels,  some others, Moby-Dick.
Our teacher insisted that Huck was "THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL." This was
a serious scholar. I won't name him but he's well known to students and
scholars of American fiction. For our final paper we had to answer this 
question: 

Why is Huckleberry Finn THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL? 	 

I wrote my paper on Moby-Dick. 

It's was mostly gibberish.