The Great British Novel

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There was no great American novel, just as the American Dream has never been fulfilled or vaguely articulated. The Russians, the Germans and the French had Tolstoy and Goethe and Balzac and Flaubert. America has never had time for great art. And even Moby-Dick mostly took place at sea. Most American novelists wrote their books in or about Europe during the early 20th century, and afterwards the standards and expectations went back down. England has Dickens, or had him. He might not be so important anymore. I think Invisible Man and Slaughterhouse-Five are the most representative American novels. Of British novels I like Of Human Bondage.