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/lit/ - Literature

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16383628 No.16383628 [Reply] [Original]

Was this the great american novel? Moby Dick is better, but it's not about America . Huck Finn was more historically relevant, but a worse work of literature imo.

>> No.16383636

>>16383628
Yes
Huck Finn is very regional, but there’s nothing particularly New York about Gatsby except for the setting

>> No.16383674

>>16383636
Huck Finn I feel is more historically relevant but as a work of literature Gatsby is much more summative of the American experience

>> No.16383710

>>16383628
I think you're looking for the Great American American novel, not the Great American novel.

>> No.16383723

>>16383710
what do you think is the latter?

>> No.16383734

>>16383723
Moby Dick

>> No.16383735

>>16383734
BASED

>> No.16383748

I remember reading this in High School and getting a little confused. So i came up with nicknames for each character, each nickname was based on the character’s personality:
Jay “The Cuck” Gatsby
Tom “The Cuck” Buchanan
George “The Cuck” Wilson
Nick “The Cuck” Carraway
I forgot the rest

>> No.16383750

>>16383734
I think moby dick is a better book than gatsby. Moby Dick might be my favorite book. When I speak of "the great american novel" I'm kind of pulling it out of my ass, but to me the concept kind of necessitates that the book is about america.

>> No.16383751

>>16383628
It's Blood Meridian

>> No.16383755

It's Lolita, you dunce

>> No.16383763

>>16383750
Not necessarily.

Novel is written by an American and it's great = Great American novel.

Novel is written by an American, it's great and it's about America = Great American American novel.

In other words, what you want is the Great American novel about America.

>> No.16383771

>>16383748
Daisy "The Whore" Buchanan

>> No.16383818

Moby Dick is definitely about America

>> No.16383825

>>16383755
Pipe down paedophile

>> No.16383858

>>16383818
I mean, it's set in America but it's not about America.

>> No.16383880

>>16383858
Very true

>> No.16383887
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16383887

*blocks your path*

>> No.16383902

>>16383628
>Was this the great american novel?

Considering it is the corner stone for both English and writing education; yes. Yes it is anon.

Beyond that he book is written pretty damn well, and should be, considering it was edited into oblivion.

>> No.16383911

>>16383887
You fucking wish you commie bitch

>> No.16383949

>>16383911
Clock is ticking.

>> No.16384350

>>16383751
This

>> No.16384355

>>16384350
Ok reddit

>> No.16384371

>>16384355
>implying The Great Gatsby and most American books aren't read by redditors

>> No.16384380

>>16383628
serious question
is this worth reading if i'm no longer a high school student and have not been one for quite some time

>> No.16384487

The Pequod is a metaphor for the United States you silly boy.

>> No.16384504

>>16384380
It is. You can also finish it in an afternoon or two.

>> No.16384518

>>16384371
>implying anybody but teenagers and reddit man-children think Cormeme McCarthy is better than Fitzgerald or Melville

>> No.16384529
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16384529

>>16383628
*blocks your path*

>> No.16384546

>>16384518
His one of the American GOATs for sure. Not sure if he's better but BM is canon.

>> No.16384563

>>16384518
You're only saying that because McCarthy is still alive. He'll go down as one of the all-time greats.

>> No.16384576

>>16383887
This and every other book Steinbeck wrote. Somehow he seems like the most American novelist I've read

>> No.16384585
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16384585

>Great American Novel= Encapsulates a core part of the american identity/struggle

This is my definition and why I would rule out Moby Dick (otherwise would be a contender).

I think Absalom!Absalom! is it. It's a story of american ambition in establishing a legacy while defying social order. It shows how genteel southern society is just aping the actions of a moral civilization.

The novel also contains the key element I think needed to be considered "great", the book presents a mythos more than a story. There is no suspense as to the tragedy of the Suptens, but the propagation and interpretation as to their fall allows for a greater exploration of the american spirit.


>>16383887
I think this and East of Eden are also possible choices.

>> No.16384614
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16384614

Gatsby includes Negroes while at the same time is not a “southern” novel

>> No.16384659

>>16383628
Reddit literally solved this on r/books years ago.

>> No.16384669

>>16384614
why do Americans love negroes so much?

>> No.16384682

>>16384669
We're atoning for the past.

>> No.16384706
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16384706

>>16383628
>Moby Dick is better, but it's not about America
>the novel in which an old Caucasian guy leads a multicultural ship to ruin in the pursuit of realising, or one could say “manifesting”, his purpose, or one could say “destiny” as the futility of this task becomes clear
>not about America

>> No.16384711

>>16384682
modern burgers didn't do anything, mate.

>> No.16384735
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16384735

>>16384669
Serious answer? They have to, because if they allow themselves to consider the alternative at this point, if they let themselves look directly at reality, things would turn very bloody very quickly.

>> No.16384774

>>16384669
The only people here with any semblance of an original "Culture" are negroes and southoids

>> No.16384843

>>16384774
>southoids
Yeah, if you consider culture shopping at Walmart, saying "yall" and "do what?", and putting too much butter on everything. Otherwise I haven't observed much culture in the south.

>> No.16384869

>>16383858
Eh, an incredibly diverse cast of characters that represent the smorgasbord of people in the US are all trodden toward a unique goal they all had imposed upon them. Seems like a reasonable metaphor

>> No.16384874

>>16384869
more like an allegory, no?

>> No.16384898

>>16383628
this is taught in high school so there's no chance it's good. sorry op.

>> No.16384905

Because USA is so diverse regionally and culturally there are a handful of candidates over over different eras.

>> No.16384906

>>16384518
I'm neither and he's better.

>> No.16385035

>>16384518
BM and The Road are always one of the top askreddit answers about books and that’s where zoomers learned what good taste is so they brought it over.
Normies didn’t even know who McCarthey was until the No Country for Old Men and especially The Road films came out.
The whole random acts of violence schtick really appeals to emotionally immature teens.

>> No.16385062

>>16385035
>random
brainlet

>> No.16385078

>>16385035
>Filtered by Cormac
kek many such cases

>> No.16385146
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16385146

>>16384546
>BM is canon
>Dude I just fackin' love and agree with Harold Bloom!!!!

>> No.16385152

>>16383751
I'm not even a big fan of McCarthy but this.

>> No.16385154
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16385154

>>16385146
>he actually read a foreward

>> No.16386221

>>16384905
based and wisdompilled

>> No.16386253

>>16385035
imagine being such a pseud

>> No.16386265

>>16384874
Yeah, probably. Best not to upset my eighth grade English teacher.

>> No.16386321
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16386321

>>16383628
I know I'll probably get shit on, but I always felt The Grapes of Wrath was The Great American novel.

>> No.16386797

>>16383628
I'd say Lolita is a better written novel and better captures the essence of America

>> No.16386928

>>16383628
I literally just finished it and it was the most meh "classic" I have ever read. t.b.h shit's irrelevant nowadays, muh american dream, themes of class, femoid liberation, and whatever other bullshit have all been done better a million times by now and every supposed universal theme is touched on in the shallowest of ways. The whole time I kept imagining some old Hays era flick where everybody acts autistic with corny moral denouements that aged like dogshit. As mentioned ITT, Nabokov makes Fitzgerald look like a hack faggot.

>> No.16386982

>>16386928
Definitely agree, the great gatsby is overrated. I think the only reason people even talk about it is because practically every American had to read it in high school.

>>16386321
>>16384585
>>16383887
Honestly the correct answer. Steinbeck is a monumental figure, very few American authors come close to him

>> No.16387318

>>16386928
This is the problem with using stuff like Nabokov as a foundational school-level text. Everyone becomes incapable of experiencing a drama or a story directly because they've read the deconstruction before they read the original.

Work becomes valued for its cleverness because that undoubtedly makes it art, but work like Nanokov's has a parasitic relationship to earlier writers, springing surprises from their basis. We need to learn to watch e.g.old melodramas the way we read Shakespeare or Homer.

>> No.16388282

>>16386982
This stuff doesn’t get put into American Highschools until people have already been talking about it for quite a while