--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The great American novel has not only…" description: "\"The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected.\" — W. Somerset Maugham" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06f/w-somerset-maugham-237_books_the-great-american-novel-has-not-only-al_2045233.jpg" --- # The great American novel has not only already been… ![“The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected.” quote by W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06f/w-somerset-maugham-237_books_the-great-american-novel-has-not-only-al_2045233.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06f/w-somerset-maugham-237_books_the-great-american-novel-has-not-only-al_2045233.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06f/w-somerset-maugham-237_books_the-great-american-novel-has-not-only-al_2045233.jpg) > “The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected.” [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The best American story already exists but has been dismissed by mainstream tastes. **In simple terms:** Great works can be ignored. Key Takeaway Seek out overlooked literature. Themes literature culture rejection Mood critical thoughtful Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - book clubs - academic curricula - publishing decisions - cultural criticism Key Concepts canon formation artistic merit Questions to Reflect On - Why are some masterpieces ignored? - How can we broaden literary standards? A Different Perspective Popularity doesn’t guarantee quality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-novel/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Great american](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-american/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Novel Written](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel-written-810589/) [Rejected](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rejected/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Written](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/written/) [Written Rejected](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/written-rejected-3826116/) ## Related quotes > [“I have often been mildly amused when I think that the great American novel was not written about New England or Chicago. It was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-michener/i-have-often-been-mildly-amused-when-i-think-that-the-great-american/) [James A. Michener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-michener/) > [People think that they will sit down and produce the great American novel in one sitting. It doesn't work that way. This is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/people-think-that-they-will-sit-down-and-produce-the-great-american/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) > [My father was a frustrated writer. I think he wanted to write the great American novel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-waldman/my-father-was-a-frustrated-writer-i-think-he-wanted-to-write-the/) [Anne Waldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-waldman/) > [This is, if not a lifetime process, it's awfully close to it. The writer broadens, becomes deeper, becomes more observant, becomes more tempered, becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-serling/this-is-if-not-a-lifetime-process-it-s-awfully-close-to-it-the-writer/) [Rod Serling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-serling/) > [I have no doubt that 'On the Road' is a Great American Novel. But I'm also certain my students will do fine without it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-d-souza/i-have-no-doubt-that-on-the-road-is-a-great-american-novel-but-i-m/) [Tony D'Souza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-d-souza/) > [Of course I planned to write the Great American Novel; that lasted about a week, at which point I decided I had nothing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasmine-cresswell/of-course-i-planned-to-write-the-great-american-novel-that-lasted/) [Jasmine Cresswell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasmine-cresswell/) > [I don't think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-goldberg/i-don-t-think-everyone-wants-to-create-the-great-american-novel-but/) [Natalie Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-goldberg/) > [It’s Fitzgerald’s thin-but-durable urge to affirm that finally makes Gatsby worthy of being our Great American Novel. 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I was out of creative writing class in school, Syracuse University; had a B.A. in English…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-reed/people-didn-t-know-certain-things-about-me-which-i-was-out-of/) [Lou Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-reed/) ## More by W. Somerset Maugham > [“A man thinks it quite natural that he should fall out of love with a woman, but it never strikes him for a moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/a-man-thinks-it-quite-natural-that-he-should-fall-out-of-love-with-a/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“A man's work reveals him. In social intercourse he gives you the surface that he wishes the world to accept, but in his book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/a-man-s-work-reveals-him-in-social-intercourse-he-gives-you-the/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/love-is-only-a-dirty-trick-played-on-us-to-achieve-continuation-of/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither. We must be very humble. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/the-world-is-hard-and-cruel-we-are-here-none-knows-why-and-we-go-none/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“There is no more merit in having read a thousand books than in having ploughed a thousand fields.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/there-is-no-more-merit-in-having-read-a-thousand-books-than-in-having/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“I wanted to live again and again. I was willing to accept every sort of life, no matter what its pain and sorrow; I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/i-wanted-to-live-again-and-again-i-was-willing-to-accept-every-sort/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/in-hollywood-the-women-are-all-peaches-it-makes-one-long-for-an-apple/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/follow-your-inclinations-with-due-regard-to-the-policeman-round-the/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“His love became a prison from which he longed to escape, but he had not the strength merely to open the door-that was all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/his-love-became-a-prison-from-which-he-longed-to-escape-but-he-had/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [I did not believe him capable of love. That is an emotion in which tenderness is an essential part, but Strickland had no tenderness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/i-did-not-believe-him-capable-of-love-that-is-an-emotion-in-which/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [If only the good were a little less heavy-footed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/if-only-the-good-were-a-little-less-heavy-footed/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/perfection-has-one-grave-defect-it-is-apt-to-be-dull/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“A God that can be understood is no God. Who can explain the Infinite in words?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/a-god-that-can-be-understood-is-no-god-who-can-explain-the-infinite/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“My dear, you used to be quite a dish; now you're quite a tureen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/my-dear-you-used-to-be-quite-a-dish-now-you-re-quite-a-tureen/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“When people say they do not care what others thing of them, for the most part they deceive themselves”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/when-people-say-they-do-not-care-what-others-thing-of-them-for-the/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) [Explore all 840 W. Somerset Maugham quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. 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There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) [Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W. 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