What's a Great American Novel?

Before endeavoring on the Great American Novel Challenge (GANC), I thought it a wise idea to contemplate what I feel contributes to making a novel a great American one. Some of these concepts I drew from American novels I have read and things I feel typify an American ideal. Not all the novels will meet these criteria, and I believe that is the point, and American in its own way.

1. The novel is set in the United States, areas that will eventually become the United States, or if abroad have its main characters be American.

2. The novel is patriotic. No, I am not talking waving the red, white and blue and such. Maybe a better term would be pro-American. I have read a book or two by American authors who shun their roots and cast America in a bad light. While I do not expect the places and characters of the books I read to be put on a pedestal as an American archetype to live up to, a great American novel should not bash the U.S. or be harsh to it.

3. Some set of characters in each novel should have an independent, can-do attitude. I feel this is one of the great American stereotypes that we tend to be happy to live up to. And usually to accomplish this can-do plan...

4. Theme of man against a force larger than self. To be independent means to not rely on something other people do - the city, the boss, inheritance, etc. And sometimes people must fight to be rid of that dependence. Fight against, nature, expectations, culture, industry. Tame something, if you will.

5. In that fighting against a force (not the Force, mind you), one must explore...something. It could be the vast plains of the West, an Indian tribe as new settlers, a new idea or way of living, or maybe a internal exploration of self.

6. Maybe it is the Texan in me, but I think a great American novel should have some essence of grandiosity and vastness. Whether it is a big sky, a big tract of land or a big hope and aim, at some point I want awe.

7. The culture of the book, whatever it is, wherever its set, has to be true and rich and deep. The author should write beyond the stereotype, whether to disprove it or to display why it exists and if it should be lauded. Surely not all Texans ride horses and not all New England Italians are in the mafia.

8. True to life. Harry Potter may be a good book, but I doubt Great Britain is like Hogwarts. The events and people have to something I could reasonably imagine in the time and place they find themselves in the story.

9. However, part of America is its tall tales - Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Johnny Appleseed - so maybe a stretcher or two is okay. People like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone were people whose fame stretched beyond reality, but in a way that only heightened the "American-ness" of them. Purposeful fantasy, if you will.

All of these qualities may not exist in every novel I read, but I certainly hope that a majority of them are present in some sense. I know that in reading these thirteen books, my opinion of what makes a great American novel will change, and I anticipate the revelations, both from my own reading and the reviews of the other GANC participants. It should be an exciting and exploratory thirteen months.