[Richard Kimball]

While I think he's implying a rather broad definition, to me the great American novel would indicate several things. First, it would have to have an American theme. Secondly, it would have to speak to an individual generation. The Grapes of Wrath would speak to a different generation than Huck Finn, for example. Third, (IMHO) the book should have had some kind of significant social impact. It should have defined the way (some) Americans view their country or their generation. That would be my interpretation, in any event.

[untenured]

Secondly, it would have to speak to an individual generation.

I like much of your definition, but here I would have to disagree. I believe there are certain themes that have always been part of the American experience. Thus novels that speak skillfully to those themes, even with different historical reference points that are less and less meaningful to subsequent generations, are IMHO "Great American Novels."

A GAN to me should be as meaningful and informative to people 100 years from now as it is today.