The Great American Novel

First published in 1923 in Paris in an edition of three hundred copies, this satiric novel by the great American poet is "a satire on the novel form in which a little (female) Ford car falls more or less in love with a Mack truck." For the most part, however, The Great American Novel is a serious attempt to write a novel with the recognition that such a work is impossible to write within established conventions. Although long available from New Directions, this edition, by presenting it alone, puts the work into new focus, and reveals its importance in Williams’ career.