So What Makes an American Book Great?

This semester we've looked at a variety of American books and stories that have been called "great" for one reason or another -- Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Flannery O'Connor's stories, Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Morrison's Love, Hijuelos's Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Roth's American Pastoral, and Doctorow's Ragtime. So the big question, then, is what makes an American book great? Or, what makes it especially "American"? And, finally, which of these books do you consider great, and why?

This is the last post of the semester -- yay! Please post your comment no later than Saturday, April 21.

Doctorow: Ragtime

We've talked a bit about what it means to write historical fiction. We've also discussed whether the fiction-writer has a moral or ethical responsibility to be "truthful" when it comes to historical fiction. What questions and concerns does Doctorow raise about the nature of historical truth? How does his use of historical figures (Emma Goldman, JP Morgan, Henry Ford, Harry Houdini) in Ragtime serve the greater purpose of his novel?

Please post your response no later than Saturday, April 11, 12:00pm.