偉大美國小說

偉大美國小說，為代表美國的時代精神，是準確的主題的小說。它被假定為一個美國作家以普通美國公民的角度，來了解國家、文化。在歷史上，它有時也等同於美國的民族史詩。 雖然小說早在17世紀的美國殖民時期就已經出現，但是不具有“美國”小說的身分，直到“美國文學” 於18世紀開始為止。美國是一個國家，同時反映其文學的發展。 “偉大美國小說”的稱呼源於美國南北戰爭時期小說家約翰·威廉·德·佛瑞斯特 （John William De Forest）的一篇文章。然而，更廣泛地說，這種概念起源於美國民族主義 ，而偉大的英國作家當時如此稱呼美國作家。 在現代用法中，這個詞往往是比喻與代表一種美國文學在一個特定的時代的文學基準寫作方式。懷有抱負的作家，尤其是學生，經常說要創作出“偉大美國小說”。從理論上講，這樣的小說也許曾經被創作出來，或不曾被創作出來。因此，“偉大美國小說”是柏拉圖式的理想，沒有任何特定的文本。 下面列舉出一些曾被視為偉大美國小說的作品: 19世紀 1851年: 赫尔曼·梅尔维尔《白鯨記》 1884年: 马克·吐温《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》 20世紀 1925年: 弗朗西斯·斯科特·基·菲茨杰拉德 《了不起的蓋茨比》 1936年: 威廉·福克納 《押沙龍，押沙龍！》 1938年: 約翰·多斯·帕索斯 《美國》 1939年: 約翰·史坦貝克 《憤怒的葡萄》 1951年: 杰罗姆·大卫·塞林格《麥田捕手》 1952年: 拉尔夫·艾里森 《看不見的人》 Invisible Man 1953年: 索尔·贝娄《阿奇正傳》（The Adventures of Augie March） 1955年: 弗拉基米爾·納博可夫《羅莉塔》 1960年: 哈波·李《梅崗城故事》 1973年: 托马斯·品钦 《萬有引力之虹》 1975年: 威廉·蓋迪斯（William Gaddis） 《J R》 1985年: 戈馬克·麥卡錫 《血色子午線》（Blood Meridian） 1987年: 托妮·莫里森 《寵兒》（Beloved） 1997年: 托马斯·品钦 《梅森和迪克逊》（Mason & Dixon） 21世紀 2010年: 強納森·法蘭森（Jonathan Franzen）《自由》 Buell, Lawrence. The Unkillable Dream of the Great American Novel: Moby-Dick as Test Case. [2010-10-26]. American Literary History Volume 20, Issue 1-2 Pp. 132-155. （原始内容存档于2016-01-08）.  Brown, Robert B. One Hundred Years of Huck Finn. American Heritage Publishing. June/July 1984 [2011-12-10]. （原始内容存档于2011-08-18）.  请检查|date=中的日期值 (帮助) It was called the “great American novel” as early as 1891 by the English writer Andrew Lang... ” The Columbia History of the American Novel （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） By Emory Elliott, Cathy N. Davidson p. 323 "The Great Gatsby (1925), a work still frequently nominated as 'the great American novel.'" Hirsch, Arthur. The real great American Novel: 'Absalom, Absalom!' Faulkner: His ninth novel, for its span, its revelation, its American essence, stands above all others in reaching for this literary absolute.. The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD). 1997-11-16 [2010-09-21]. （原始内容存档于2011-12-29）.  Hammond, Margo. Norman Mailer on the Media and the Message. Book Babes. The Poynter Institute. February 6, 2004 [2010-09-21]. （原始内容存档于2010-10-16）.  Norman Mailer is a Pulitzer Prize winning literary critic, and it is his opinion that: "The Great American Novel is no longer writable. We can't do what John Dos Passos did. His trilogy on America came as close to the Great American Novel as anyone. You can't cover all of America now. It's too detailed." Dana, Gioia. The Grapes of Wrath Radio Show - Transcript. The Big Read. The National Endowment for the Arts. [2010-09-22]. （原始内容存档于2011-07-17）.  Richard Rodriguez is a famous American writer. In this interview he referred to the Grapes of Wrath as The Great American Novel: "There hasn't been anything like this novel since it was written. And this is the great American novel that everyone keeps waiting for but it has been written now." Nixon, Rob. The Grapes of Wrath. This Month Spotlight. Turner Classic Movies. [2010-09-22]. （原始内容存档于2013-01-04）.  Nixon quotes John Springer, author of The Fondas (Citadel, 1973), a book about Henry Fonda and his role in film version of The Grapes of Wrath: "The Great American Novel made one of the few enduring Great American Motion Pictures." Wolverton, II, Joe. J.D. Salinger, Dead at 91. The New American Magazine. January 29, 2010 [2010-09-22]. （原始内容存档于2012-03-06）.  "While a student at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Salinger amused and annoyed his fellow students by traipsing about campus proclaiming that he would be the author of the next Great American Novel. That his Catcher in the Rye was such a book is indisputable. Giles, Patrick, The Great American Novel, Los Angeles Times, 2002-09-15 [2012-11-05], （原始内容存档于2011-12-29）  Amis, Martin, Review, The Atlantic Monthly (quoted by Powell's Books), [2012-11-05], （原始内容存档于2020-11-11）  Martin Amis is a well-known British novelist and professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. It is his opinion that "The Adventures of Augie March is the Great American Novel. Search no further. All the trails went cold 42 years ago. The quest did what quests very rarely do; it ended." Williams, Mary Elizabeth. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Personal Best. Salon. [2010-09-22]. （原始内容存档于2009-05-03）.  Mary Elizabeth Williams is Salon's Table Talk host. She opens her review with these lines: "Some say the Great American Novel is Huckleberry Finn, some say it's The Jungle, some say it's The Great Gatsby. -- Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita". Jameson, Frederick. The Seeds of Time. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. 1996: 214 pages [2012-11-05]. （原始内容存档于2011-12-29）.  "These are familiar features of daily life in the super state from which, it should be noted, high modernism in the United States - in theory and in practice alike, fifties aestheticism organized around Pound and Henry James and Wallace Stevens and the New Criticism - was in desperate flight; of our great modern writers, only Nabokov handled this kind of material, in Lolita, which thereby at once became The Great American Novel,- but of course he was a foreigner to begin with." (Page 146-147). Puente, Maria. 'To Kill a Mockingbird': Endearing, enduring at 50 years. USA Today. 2010-07-08 [2012-11-05]. （原始内容存档于2011-10-17）.  "It is Lee's only book and one of the handful that could earn the title of Great American Novel." Ruch, Alan. Introduction to GR. The Modern World. April 1, 1997 [2010-09-22]. （原始内容存档于2010-09-15）.  "It is the Great American Novel come at last, a postmodern masterpiece." Weisenburger, Steven. A Gravity's Rainbow Companion. University of Georgia Press. 2006: 412 [2012-11-05]. （原始内容存档于2011-12-29）.  "Thomas Pynchon's big book quickly confirmed him as one of the few novelists of unprecedented genius to emerge in the postwar era. Here was the Great American Novel at last. The reviewers' favorite comparisons were to Moby Dick and Ulysses." San Francisco Review of Books. [2012-11-05]. （原始内容存档于2011-11-29）.  "Gaddis has written the long-awaited great American novel... A beautiful book and a brilliant author." http://oyc.yale.edu/english/american-novel-since-1945/content/transcripts/transcript-18-cormac-mccarthy-blood-meridian-cont[永久失效連結]. What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years?. [2012-11-05]. （原始内容存档于2018-02-25）.  Morton, Brian. Scotland on Sunday. [2012-11-05]. （原始内容存档于2012-03-18）.  "Pynchon's finest work yet...if anyone is still looking for the Great American Novel then this may well be it." Benjamin Alsup. Jonathan Franzen Will Go Down Swinging - Some people believe the era of the Great American Novel is over. Freedom makes them look like fools.. August 11, 2010 [2014-12-13]. （原始内容存档于2014-11-24） （英语）.  Brown, Herbert R. "The Great American Novel." American Literature 7.1 (1935): 1–14. Knox, George. "The Great American Novel: Final Chapter." American Quarterly 21.4 (1969): 667–682. The American Novel | PBS（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）