History MediaNotes / GreatAmericanNovel

-->'''Skinner:''' Mine is about a futuristic amusement park where dinosaurs are brought to life through advanced cloning techniques. I call it ''Billy and the Cloneasaurus''".\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E19SweetSeymourSkinnersBaadasssssSong Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song]]" Principal Skinner gets fired. He tells Bart that he now "finally has time to do what I've always wanted: write the great American novel. Mine is about a futuristic amusement park where dinosaurs are brought to life through advanced cloning techniques. I call it ''Billy and the Cloneasaurus''".
-->'''Apu:''' Oh, you have GOT to be kidding, sir. First you think of an idea that has already been done. Then you give it a title that nobody could possibly like. Didn't you think this through...?\\
''(time skip)'' ...[[Literature/JurassicPark was on the bestseller list for eighteen months!]] Every magazine cover had...\\
''(time skip)'' ...[[Film/JurassicPark1993 most popular movies of all time, sir!]] WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! ... I mean, thank you, come again.

''(time skip)'' ...[[Film/JurassicPark most popular movies of all time, sir!]] WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! ... I mean, thank you, come again.

Naturally, this absence has been a centuries-old shame and frustration for the ever-proud and confident USA. In that regard, writing a ''Great American Novel'' has become the literary version of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream. Every American novelist aspires to write it one day, and in popular culture, this has become a RunningGag and a good example of SpeculativeFiction. This concept is more a cultural sensibility than anything derived from history. USA is far from being alone in having a belated literary tradition. As noted by many scholars, despite having a nearly thousand-year head start on America, Russian literature was mostly marginal until the 19th century, when Creator/AleksandrPushkin arrived. Pushkin was a contemporary of Creator/WashingtonIrving and Creator/JamesFenimoreCooper and yet the Russians did not really have or need any concept of a "Great Russian Novel" (even if they have many great novels in the Russian language). Likewise, the nations of South America largely had their creative and literary renaissance in the 20th Century, as did many other nations in the world and even in these cases the idea of catching up to the European canon has generally not been an essential concern.

Naturally, this absence has been a centuries-old shame and frustration for the ever-proud and confident USA. In that regard, writing a ''Great American Novel'' has become the literary version of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream. Every American novelist aspires to write it one day, and in popular culture, this has become a RunningGag and a good example of SpeculativeFiction. This concept is more a cultural sensibility than anything derived from history. USA is far from being alone in having a belated literary tradition. As noted by many scholars, despite having a nearly thousand-year head start on America, Russian Literature was mostly marginal until the 19th Century, when Creator/AleksandrPushkin arrived. Pushkin was a contemporary of Creator/WashingtonIrving and Creator/JamesFenimoreCooper and yet the Russians did not really have or need any concept of a "Great Russian Novel" (even if they have many great novels in the Russian language). Likewise, the nations of South America largely had their creative and literary renaissance in the 20th Century, as did many other nations in the world and even in these cases the idea of catching up to the European canon has generally not been an essential concern.