This module looks at various candidates for the `Great American Novel', a term for fictional narratives that seem to capture the essence of the United States. The module will examine the concept's origins following the American Civil War, evolution throughout the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries, and enduring appeal in the popular imagination. Selected fiction will be considered in relation to US national identity, the ideal of the American dream, notions of authorship, and anxieties toward social issues such as class, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation.