Great American Novel
Great American Novel
Latest Episodes
Ep. 44: The End of the Line with the Compsons: THE SOUND AND THE FURY by Faulkner
Willian Faulkner’s 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury is widely regarded as a modernist masterpiece. It is the novel which secured his reputation forever. With that stated, it’s also a notoriously difficult book for readers ...
Episode 43: Marching toward "True Womanhood" in Louisa May Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN
Published in two parts in 1868 and 1869 (with the second half originally titled Good Wives), Louisa May Alcott's Little Women for decades defined the goals and aspirations of the young-adult novel: written as the rea...
Episode 42: Fly Away with Toni Morrison's SONG OF SOLOMON
Episode 42 of the Great American Novel Podcast considers Toni Morrison’s 1977 novel and National Book Critics’ Circle award winner Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon tells of the coming age of Macon “Milkman” Dead between the Second Worl...
Episode 41: Feeling the Modern World Fracture in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night (1934) has always sparked great debate about whether it is a noble botch or a modernist classic because its non-chronological form, confounding character motivation, and intrusive narrative voi...
Episode 40: Can All the King's Men Put Us Back Together Again?
Episode 40 of the Great American Novel Podcasts discusses one of the great American novels of the Twentieth Century, one that is perhaps more significant and relevant now than it has been in quite some time. In this episode y...