Parodied almost as soon as it was announced, and generally regarded as a topic beneath the remit of serious literary criticism, the Great American Novel enterprise has proved more durable and more various than almost any other in American literary culture. It remains the bench-mark for literary ambition, prestige, and sales. This lecture, to mark World Book Day, will consider some of the forms the Great American Novel has taken in its 150-year history and ask what social, political, moral, commercial and aesthetic needs it so persistently promises to serve.

This lecture marks World Book Day, 1 March 2012