The writer in question (usually a white man) needs to have written a very long book, to be able to bear the weight of cultural expectation. This is the mindset that periodically proclaims someone to be the latest carrier of that torch. “Give us some respect”, it seems to shout, “we’re just as good as you failed old Europeans. It speaks to a notion of America being both looked down on for its cultural poverty at the same time as being lionised as the world’s major superpower, politically and economically. American pre-eminence in the new cultures of the Twentieth century only serves to sharpen the longing for recognition of their excellence in proper culture – fine art and literary fiction – rather than the bubble gum worlds of the movies, TV and pulp fiction. The very idea seems to me born out of a longing for old school respectability in the ranks of American commentators. For a certain type of contemporary fiction lover, there exists a fascination with the pursuit of The Great American Novel.
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