The Great American Novel (1923) is an experimental novel by William
Carlos Williams. Although he is predominately known as a poet, Williams
frequently pushed the limits of prose style throughout his career. In
the defining decade of Modernism, Williams sought to try his hand at the
so-called "Great American Novel," a concept fueling impassioned debate
in academic and artistic circles nationwide. Far from conventional,
Williams' novel is a metafictional foray into matters more postmodern
than modern, a commentary masquerading as narrative and a satire of the
all-American overreliance on cliché in form and content. "If there is
progress then there is a novel. Without progress there is nothing.
Everything exists from the beginning. I existed in the beginning. I was
a slobbering infant. Today I saw nameless grasses--I tapped the earth
with my knuckle. It sounded hollow. It was dry as rubber. Eons of
drought. No rain for fifteen days. No rain. It has never rained. It will
never rain." Williams' novel begins with the word and a birth. Language
describes the experience of awakening to experience, of coming into
consciousness as a living being in a living world. Using words from
everyday speech, he builds a novel out of observations, a book that
remains conscious of itself throughout. Like the child whose first
experience with the written word often comes from names and slogans
stretched over trucks and billboards, the reader eventually comes to
accept their new reality, a world where people love and succeed and
fail, where history and art intercede to make meaning where they can.
The Great American Novel showcases Williams' experimental form,
stretching the meaning of "novel" to its outermost limit. With a
beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this
edition of William Carlos Williams' The Great American Novel is a
classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.
