When the dust had settled, the New York Times, summarising, decided that its survey supplied 'a rich, if partial and unscientific, picture of the state of American literature, a kind of composite self-portrait'.

Whatever its limitations, the list provoked a vigorous debate. It was clear from the long list of also-rans, titles that attracted multiple nominations, that if Philip Roth, who has been at the top of his game for the past decade, could have aggregated the votes for novels like The Human Stain and The Plot Against America he might have emerged the outright winner. These included Underworld by Don DeLillo Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy Rabbit Angstrom, a compendium of the Rabbit novels by John Updike and American Pastoral by Philip Roth. Mythical or not, the NYT question produced an intriguing list of runners-up. A hundred years ago, the Californian novelist Frank Norris noted that it was 'mythical like the hippogriff'. 'What do we mean, in an era of globalisation,' it wondered, 'by 'American'? Or, in the age of reality TV, by 'fiction'? What do we mean by 'best'?' Actually, some Americans have always conceded that the Great American Novel might be a will-o'-the-wisp too fabulous for critical scrutiny. The answer to this question, published on 21 May, came back loud and clear: Beloved by Toni Morrison, a contemporary masterpiece that contributed powerfully to Morrison's nomination for the Nobel Prize in 1993.Įven as it trumpeted its finding, the NYT was quick to admit the quixotic nature of its quest. The editors of the NYT Book Review had sent a letter to 200 writers 'and other literary sages' asking them to identify 'the best single work of American fiction in the last 25 years'. Last spring, the New York Times, repeating an exercise from the 1960s that chose Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, announced that it had ventured into the interior of American letters and tracked down 'the best work' of contemporary American fiction. They subscribe to the pursuit of (literary) happiness. We don't really believe in the last word, prefer not to be told what's best and would rather make our own discoveries.

They want to believe in the Great American Novel, the classic exemplar, the last word. We celebrate a literary tradition of astonishing variety. I n the novel, as in everything else, there are Anglo-Saxon and American attitudes.

Disgrace 1999