Background and origin of the term {{multiple image The development of
American literature coincided with the nation's development, especially of
its identity. Calls for an "autonomous national literature" first appeared during the
American Revolution, and, by the mid-19th century, the possibility of American literature exceeding its European counterparts began to take shape, as did that of the Great American Novel, this time being the genesis of novels that would later be considered the Great American Novel. The term "Great American Novel" originated in an 1868 essay by
American Civil War novelist
John William De Forest. De Forest saw it serving as a "tableau" of American society, and said that the novel would "paint the American soul" and capture "the ordinary emotions and manners of American existence". Although De Forest espoused praise and critique for contemporaneous novels, he ultimately concluded that the Great American Novel had yet to be written. The essay's publication coincided with the rising prestige of the novel. Previously, only five percent of American books were marked as novels, with most fictional works given the self-effacing title of a "tale". In 1880, writer
Henry James simplified the term with the initialism "GAN".
Development The term soon became popular, its ubiquity considered a
cliché and disparaged by literary critics.
Lawrence Buell stated that the concept was seen as a part of a larger national, cultural and political consolidation.
William Carlos Williams and
Clyde Brion Davis released satirical explorations both entitled
The Great American Novel – Philip Roth would later release a novel of the same name
. The revival was perhaps the result of social change and related anxieties and the pursuit of a plateau between them.
Adam Kirsch noted that books such as Roth's
American Pastoral (1997) indicate that writers are still interested in creating the Great American Novel.
Tony Tulathimutte similarly dismissed it as "a comforting romantic myth, which wrongly assumes that commonality is more significant than individuality". ==Analysis==