Does The Great Australian Novel Shed Any Light On The Great American Novel?

 Alexis Wright wins Stella Prize with ‘perhaps the great Australian novel’ comes from The Brisbane Times' book reviews. It made me think of the semi-dormant issue of the Great American Novel.

The answer to my question, I think is in these paragraphs:

Wright said when she started writing – her first novel, Plains of Promise, came out in 1997 – she wanted to challenge herself. She couldn’t see herself writing in expectation of what literature should be. “I continue to challenge myself in the way I do things. And I want our literature to resonate with anybody who reads it. I come from a storytelling culture and it’s part of my consciousness. I want those things to be in the writing, but I want to expand how we create literature.”

The chair of the judges, critic and festival director Beejay Silcox, said Praiseworthy was mighty in every way, “mighty of scope, mighty of fury, mighty of craft, mighty of humour, mighty of language, mighty of heart”. She said it was “perhaps the great Australian novel”.