Is The Great Gatsby the Great American Novel?

[jochen stremmel]

"Every year, when I remember to do so, I reread Dashiell Hammetts
novel, THE MALTESE FALCON. It reconfirms a lot of important things
about American life: The business of America is business; romance is a
worthwhile delusion; it's hazardous to sleep with your partner's wife;
women who engage in serial relationships will lie to you when the
truth would do them more good; existentialism is a practical
philosophy for urban males to follow; and if a man develops a
professional attitude towards his work, he will probably succeed where
others fail."
(Charles Willeford)


2013/5/4 Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>

> Covers my take on Gatsby:
> http://skreened.com/daydream/ain-t-no-party-like-a-gatsby-party
>
> And where's Papa?
>
> I'd need more contemplating time to make a list....
>
>
> On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 8:31 AM, <eburns at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Lolita
>> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
>> ------------------------------
>> *From: * kelber at mindspring.com
>> *Sender: * owner-pynchon-l at waste.org
>> *Date: *Sat, 4 May 2013 11:23:40 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
>> *To: *<pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> *ReplyTo: * kelber at mindspring.com
>> *Subject: *Re: Is The Great Gatsby the Great American Novel?
>>
>> USA - Dos Passos
>>
>> LK
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: David Morris **
>> Sent: May 4, 2013 11:20 AM
>> To: Mark Kohut **
>> Cc: alice wellintown **, pynchon -l **
>> Subject: Re: Is The Great Gatsby the Great American Novel?
>>
>> A faulty list doesn't include Faulkner.  And I don't think All the King's
>> Men fits this league.
>>
>> On Saturday, May 4, 2013, Mark Kohut wrote:
>>
>>> Great American Novels:
>>> Moby Dick
>>> Huck Finn
>>> The Great Gatsby
>>> The Scarlet Letter
>>> The Grapes of Wrath (?)...does anyone ever reread?
>>> All the King's Men
>>> Portrait of a Lady
>>> Invisible Man
>>> Augie March or Herzog?
>>> Gravity's Rainbow
>>> Against the Day
>>>
>>> 11 of a top 10 list...(I guess Steinbeck would have to be dropped but
>>> that feels not just to the Joads.
>>>
>>> Argue and creat your own list, Plisters.....
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>   *From:* alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
>>> *To:* pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> *Sent:* Saturday, May 4, 2013 7:51 AM
>>> *Subject:* Re: Is The Great Gatsby the Great American Novel?
>>>
>>>  The idea of a "Great American Novel" or "the Great American Novel" is
>>> useful, even if it serves an argument that no such novel exists or has ever
>>> existed or can ever exist, that is, a Platonic Ideal or,
>>> anti-Platonic...anti-Cannonical...etc...argument. To dispense with it is to
>>> acknowledge that it needs dispensing with and this might follow the common
>>> approach of tracing its origins to an essay by De Forest, and then
>>> examining how the Americans, writing in a language that was around long
>>> before they were, one that is named after their Mother oppressor, and so
>>> on...so American novel and the Spirit of forming a novel, American voice
>>> and theme and character and plot and so on, distinct from and equal to, if
>>> not, as with all other things, greater than the fading Empire's
>>> productions, past present and future. The novel that holds in its womb and
>>> loins the Zeitgeist, as surely GG does more than any other great work
>>> of the period, is yet another way of defining the phrase, and on this and
>>> on many other counts, one can certainly argue convincingly, given academic
>>> generosity, that Fitzgerald's little book is a Great American Novel or,
>>> novella, at least.
>>>
>>> It has been argued that GR or M&D are Great American novels, but I would
>>> have to go with AGTD, were I too argue that P has written one. Though V.
>>> and GR are, in many respects, more like Moby-Dick, and Confidence Man, two
>>> candidates for the accolade, AGTD has Twain in the mix, and all manner of
>>> other things that make it a far better Graet American Novel than GR or M&D.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 1:56 PM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I thought it was How to Make Love like a Porn Star
>>>
>>>
>>> >>
>>> >> >
>>> >> >
>>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/may/01/is-great-gatsby-great-american-novel
>>> >>
>>> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby#Reception
>>> >>
>>> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Novel
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ********
>>
>>
>
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