ABSTRACT
The great novelist is committed to a world without horizons, manifested first of all by a large and lyric sense for his heroes. The novel as a form is obviously empirical, working toward whatever large statements it has to offer about men in society, love, death, ambition, and so on, through specific instances of a man, a love, a death, an ambition, a specific society in a specific time and place. The novel at its best is a large perspective on life in society- large because the hero's doings are important and because the novelist is deeply concerned with the careers of his people. American readers are drinkers and sometimes addicts; Americans love jazz and fast driving and secluded corners; with all the itch to conform, Americans are still trying to burst the bonds of isolation by various sorts of violent experiences, including art.
