“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
As you know there is a reason that The Great American Novel is interwoven into my rhetoric and the imprint as a whole. I challenge you for it.
I’ll always be the first to admit that I completely understand that it’s a ridiculous notion for someone to challenge others for the GAN. But, whenever I think about the very makeup of the idea, something sticks out to me. At its simplest, The Great American Novel is a myth, it’s our societal myth. I wanted to take some time to write my own thoughts and understanding of The Great American Novel, and the conception of the myth.
America in comparison to many other countries in the world is a young nation. In July 2022, The United States will be 246 years old. I may be in my early twenties writing this, but still struggle to wrap my head around how different the United States were just over three generations ago. But I lose you with all my thoughts on the tangents of our history, I want to focus on the relevance of that time frame for understanding The Great American Novel.
Unlike other countries or civilizations primarily in the East, our country was founded in the 1700s. Unlike those pre-established Eastern nations, the first settlers came to America for a plethora of different reasons. Whatever the reason you want to attribute the migration to, they all came seeking new life. But as you might already know starting a new life in a foreign land is not easy (especially when you realize the land is already someone else’s home). We also have to remember those first settlers started settlements and colonies still under pressure from the motherland, Great Britain.
For any historians reading this, I apologize this will be a massive understated recollection of significant dates in American history. For everyone else, I’ll be even more transparent, this may all sound like a refresher course from a middle-school Social Studies class. I know most of you already know the events of American History, but please be patient with me. I want these blog posts to be an easy read for any and everyone, and that means keeping it simple. Besides, I’m going somewhere with this.
Those first colonies and the founding fathers decide to declare independence from Great Britain. With help from France (which was eager to fight the British anyway they could), those small colonies did the unthinkable, and forced a surrender from one of the greatest armies in the world. Reaching that accomplishment of independence wouldn’t just make those thirteen colonies their own country. It sent shockwaves throughout the world, and would have lasting implications on what the continent of North America would become.
Immediately after the revolution, the new nation’s economy was decimated. War, reliance on the British economy, among other reasons was a massive problem for the new country. Even the biggest factor in the American economy as a whole, labor based on slaves and indentured servants was not enough to protect the first Americans from the effects of war. Always remember that slaves and indentured servants were the main driving forces of the country’s system. Major exports like sugar, tobacco, and cotton were produced by their labor primarily in the South. Even as the leading minds, and intellectuals came together to draft the Constitution, the consideration for owning human beings was not the moral quandary. The only reason Southern delegates proposed that African American slaves should be counted as people was for more representation in Congress, which the Northern States directly opposed. It was then decided, women were to be considered property through wedlock, and African American slaves were three-fifths to every white man. Remember that slavery was a deeply entrenched ideology in the late eighteenth century, especially in the south because of its agriculture. To all the founders who attended that convention, it was understood as a necessary evil.
Anyway, it would take a while for the economy to rebound, but when it would, it would never be the same.
Even with all the consequences of the revolutionary war, America as its own nation begins to develop, and this is where things start to get interesting. Starting with a negotiation with the French, there was a significant amount of land purchased, and explored. That westward exploration discovered the vastness of the North American landscape. The discovery of new land meant new settlement territory which then led to newer markets which would mean even more settlers over time. That, mixed in with a ton of other factors including improved trade relations and technological advancements led to this dynamic boom, an industrial revolution known as The Golden Age.
With more inventions, innovations, intellectuals, life in America was rapidly evolving, and improving. There was this palpable excitement beginning to brew within the nation. The overall voice of the wild nation had this tone of possibility and self-reliance. It wasn’t this focus on community relations like the past, it was romantically independent. It was transcendent.
Even though the country and its culture was growing and beginning to blossom, it was not all rosy romanticism. The nation was successful, but in completely different ways split regionally. In one half, the nation was built on industry and technology, had more cities and jobs because of factories, and slaves were granted freedom.
In the other half, the economy seemed stagnant in comparison. With a deep focus on agriculture, and slave labor making it all possible. Perspectives were split about almost everything between the North and The South, rising to the point of contention. From views on government involvement in state affairs, ideologies, economies, and the most critical point to remember, slavery. The debate on the right to own slaves evolved as America’s economy was contrasted between manufacturing and slavery.
Then, a new president was elected, a man named Abraham Lincoln who opposed the South fearing more changes to their way of life (slavery, they wanted to protect owning slaves a right) made their choice, and seceded. But it wouldn’t be so easy for the newly named Confederate States of America to simply leave the states united under the constitution. In fact, it was the army who was afraid of losing the right to own slaves that seiged war.
Within a century of the new nation’s lifespan, there’s another war. A tougher and bloodier war, fought between two sides of the same nation, the same coin. Whoever won would alter the identity of the eventual nation by determining the limitations freedom and the citizenship of African American slaves. Even with the eventual surrender of the Confederacy and the emancipation of the slaves, life in America was not and would never be the same.
It was time to rebuild, to become a better nation together. It was this time of lamentation and devastation. There were new problems that needed proper resolving, especially the integration of the African American population, somewhat considered citizens in this “new” America. But, the rebuilding went on. The overall attitude, and supervision of America’s reconstruction was lackluster and haphazard. It was during this Reconstruction Era when the myth of The Great American Novel was created.
In 1868, a man named John William De Forest, best known for his realistic fiction in the novel Miss Ravenel’s Conversion from Secession to Loyalty wrote a short essay titled The Great American Novel. De Forest expressed his hopes for a text that would powerfully capture the essence of the American nation, at its greatest and its simplest.
The notion of an American viewing the nation as great or with a deep romantic viewpoint was not uncommon at the time. Prior to the Civil War, life in America (for anyone not considered property or less than human) carried this romantic identity and excitement stemming from an identity as a new, and growing nation. The following aftereffects of such a bloody war were immediately apparent in the nation’s rebuilding. Overall morale, and romantic sentiment was lost. Self-reliance, individualism, transcendentalism, the voice of a budding country fell to cynicism. A new spirit, disillusionment haunted the nation. America’s identity still had this unknown identity, but it was much more desolate and sorrowful. After John William De Forest shared his vision, it didn’t simply stick with people. It resonated unlike any other idea the time had before, especially because of its correlation to the nation’s growing voice in literature. What made the idea a cultural phenomenon was that it was one of, if not the first time that perspective was tied to another aspect of our cultural identity, literature. The idea De Forest proposed went viral.
This is a situation where you have to think in terms of the times. American literature was in its early years, books were being written but beyond Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852 had very little cultural impact. So when the idea of a Great American Novel began reaching those circles there was this frenzy. There were writers striving to achieve the idea, readers who wanted to claim they read the “Great American” story, then there were opportunistic advertisers who weren’t even publishers who realized that they could slap “The Great American” on anything and there would be a market. The notion maintained its massive popularity, eventually reaching mythic proportions over the years.
That’s my understanding for why the myth of The Great American Novel became a massively popular cultural myth. I apologize for not going too in-depth on the bigger events of the timeline. I’m not a historian, but I do like trying to understand how things happen or come to be. It’s important to me to consider the GAN within the framework of its conception. From my understanding the idea was necessary. America in its wounded and nebulous state, needed ideas to foster nationalism to survive as a newly independent country. De Forest somehow connected that desire with American literature by calling on his peers to strive for a unifying text that would reflect the identity of the nation.
It’s no coincidence that the idea was called the “Great American Novel” about a century after we declared our independence from Great Britain. Isn’t it ironic that an idea that would become an influential cultural myth, a staple for our identity as a nation was essentially an obvious play on words from the country we just fought for independence?
If you already knew what The Great American Novel was, and believe there are bigger factors to be considered in its conception, please let me know. I’m always curious. If you had no idea what The Great American Novel was, I hope this quick crash course was able to provide you with some context so that you’re able to examine the idea with new eyes.
I’ll never be the one to declare America as the perfect or greatest place to be, because it’s not. Anyone who will blindly tell you that is doing both you, and this country a disservice. I have no interest in perpetuating the idea that America is the greatest nation in the world. Even if I wanted to, that grandiose rhetoric has been overplayed and is continually used to work against progress.
I specifically left out the visceral mistakes and tragedies in America’s history because I can talk about those almost to no end. I plan to talk about it, all of it. But I think when you discuss the history of race, immigration, gender and sexuality in America you should give it the proper attention, explanation, and framing. It should be discussed in a way that isn’t glossing over important details, and shares proper context for the nuance of different historical implications.
To me, just saying that America is great, or continuing that rhetoric with no real intention beyond propaganda or blind nationalism only hinders actual progress. Ironically, one of the few pleasures I hope to take away from this experience will be working against the deeply ingrained nationalistic sentiment connected to the idea of The Great American Novel, and transforming it into something new.
The Great American Novel by John Williams De Forest
De Forest’s essay, The Great American Novel, is widely credited to be where the term “Great American Novel” was first coined and the genesis of the cultural myth. I just gave you a history lesson so I’ll make this a real oversimplification. DeForest believed that we could have our own literature, or our own literary canon of great works. He suggested the story wouldn’t just rival English or French literature, American literature as a whole would have its own voice quintessentially reflected through the words of the text:
But The Great American Novel—the picture of the ordinary emotions and manners of American existence—the American “Newcomes” or “Miserables” will, we suppose, be possible earlier. “Is it time?” the benighted people in the earthen jars or commonplace life are asking. And with no intention of being disagreeable, but rather with sympathetic sorrow, we answer, “Wait.” At least we fear that such ought to be our answer. 1
De Forest actually mentions a few authors and stories with Uncle Tom’s Cabin being the closest example to his vision. Even with his (somewhat backhanded in my opinion) invocation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin as the Great American Novel. The story’s influence should never be understated. The abolitionist movement spearheaded by many leaders including Fredrick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and William Lloyd Garrison garnered attention and support in the North. Then, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in 1852. It’s impact on public opinion and understanding on slavery was absolute and a direct correlation to the mass acceptance of the abolitionist sentiment in the North. That cultural impact became an apparent impact on Northern views on slavery and freedom. I believe it was that aspect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it’s evident, and massive influence was the determining factor behind De Forest’s vision for conceptualizing The Great American Novel.
Even with a concrete (if not, the perfect story in my opinion) representative of what De Forest envisions, his primary sentiment in the essay is that the idea had yet to be concretely achieved:
“We may be confident that the Great American Poem will not be written, no matter what genius attempts it, until democracy, the idea of our day and nation and race, has agonized and conquered through centuries, and made its work secure.” 1
This is all my understanding, and interpretation of his words. I strongly believe that we’re all supposed to come to our own understanding before debating and reaching a conclusion. It’s how American themes, overall voices, and the literary canon were built over time. I will tell my story because I wish to reach my own conclusion, will you?
Reference
1 – http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/articles/n2ar39at.html