Description: The first book in many years to take in the full sweep of national fiction, The Dream of the Great American Novel explains why this supposedly antiquated idea continues to thrive. It shows that four G.A.N. "scripts" are keys to the dynamics of American literature and identity--and to the myth of a nation perpetually under construction.
Brief description: Lawrence Buell is Powell M. Cabot Research Professor of American Literature at Harvard University.
Review Quotes: Wide-ranging and astute, Lawrence Buell's literary history revolves around an unkillable dream, around scripts that make some texts institutions.--Wai Chee Dimock, Yale University