What is THE great British Novel?

Leaving short stories aside, the novel I would nominate would be Wuthering Heights. It has a great story and shows a deep insight into the human psyche.
Many readers of this novel are never quite the same afterwards.

I would agree with you there Emil. It is such a powerful story. I read it as a self obsessed young bloke, but it still made a great impression on me. It also seems to rise above a simple class depiction as well. Heathcliff is also a kind of Gypsey/ outsider/ immigrant to the moors as well.

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Originally Posted by Paulclem

I would agree with you there Emil. It is such a powerful story. I read it as a self obsessed young bloke, but it still made a great impression on me. It also seems to rise above a simple class depiction as well. Heathcliff is also a kind of Gypsey/ outsider/ immigrant to the moors as well.

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Yes I think that Heathcliff is a major literary creation that transcends social barriers and is a force within himself. The one thing that keeps the force from imploding is his love for Kathy and this is at the heart of the novel.

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What is THE great British Novel?

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Not sure, but I bet it's boring!

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Originally Posted by Samsa

I always thought that the Great American Novel was supposed to be the work that best represented the zeitgeist of a particular era in American history.

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Yes, that's what the question's getting at, although it's not so much a zeitgeist but themes that run throughout American literature. The Great Gatsby captured the zeitgeist but it also contains themes that we associate with the "American spirit", whether that spirit is a construct or not.

Are there novels that we can consider as being indicative of the British spirit? And if not, why?

Anyone for Henry James's The Golden Bowl? The behaviour of father and daughter is a masterpiece of subtlety.

Or is James a Yank?

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Originally Posted by Gladys

Anyone for Henry James's The Golden Bowl? The behaviour of father and daughter is a masterpiece of subtlety.

Or is James a Yank?

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I think he is primarily an American although he spent a good deal of his life in England. The Golden Bowl was written before he took British nationality one year before he died and therefore, strictly speaking, it qualifies as an American novel.

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Originally Posted by kelby_lake

Yes, that's what the question's getting at, although it's not so much a zeitgeist but themes that run throughout American literature. The Great Gatsby captured the zeitgeist but it also contains themes that we associate with the "American spirit", whether that spirit is a construct or not.

Are there novels that we can consider as being indicative of the British spirit? And if not, why?

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In this case, I would say Brideshead Revisted; it is just british, though the British people really have changed in 90 years time.

"What is THE great British Novel?"

There is no such thing.

There's no harm in putting some suggestions, though it would be difficut to encompass Britishness in one novel.

Ithink the greatest is David Copperfield.

My vote is for Dickens, Great Expectations, today, if I have to pick one.

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Originally Posted by Emmy Castrol

I like D. H. Lawrence and his portrayal of a changing England; one stuck between the old class system and modern industrialisation. So perhaps 'Women in Love'.
Or perhaps 'Wuthering Heights' which paints a beautiful story within a such lovely landscape. Not a big fan of Austen, nothing but unrealistic self-fantasy hidden behind fanciful language.

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And you are entitled to your opinion-I am reading Pride and Prejiduce right now and find it very interesting.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandis

Not sure, but I bet it's boring!

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Now you sound American! :lol::lol:

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Originally Posted by Buh4Bee

Now you sound American! :lol::lol:

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But why not? The US has long been a Mecca for those with a short attention span who seek instant gratification. The animated cartoon and instant coffee are but two examples. Exceptions such as Herman Melville and Henry James merely underline the rule.