It might seem a little bizarre comparing Joyce to Franzen but I have been reading through the works of these two authors so in my mind they are related.  That, and I recently saw Franzen at the New Yorker festival and have been having debates with my friend Jane as to whether or not Freedom is the 'Great American Novel'.  

Jane says yes, because Freedom touches on all aspects of a sort of bougeois life in the late 20th/21th american life in a revealing way, I say no because it does not reflect the 'american myth'  or even a perversion of the 'american myth'.  I would say that Freedom reminds me more of Balzac, or that French novel trope of bourgeois striving.  

My vote for 'Great American Novel' goes to The Great Gatsby probably because I read it at an impressionable age.  It seemed to me then a perfectly crafted novel addressing the sort of striving inherent in the american experience and the dichotomy between the aristocratic elitisms of the east (including europe) and the forging of identity in the west (or at least the middle west).  And the great myth of american is the forging of identity - at least in my opinion.

Jane's kiwi husband asks why does America even need a great American novel, people don't talk about 'The Great English Novel'. Both Jane and I were emphatic that the idea of the great American novel is important, even though we cannot agree on what the great American novel is.  

Why is it important? Because America is a construct.  Our government is constructed, our population is constructed, our culture is constructed. We have deep anxiety concerning who we 'really' are because America is on a certain level groundless, we are a completely historicized society without a prehistorical myth that tells us who we are.  We need 'The Great American Novel - really what it is is  'The Great American Myth' 

Ok not much about Joyce and Franzen - Maybe tomorrow.