Abstract: Benedict Anderson once defined a modern nation-state as "the imagined community" and highlighted the significance of novel in the formation of collective imagination and the construction of national identity. In particular, those works with typical national features, representing collective memories thus resonating among readers actively, interact with the nation-state in the process of their mutual construction. In the case of the United States, "the Great American Novel" has played an important role in the construction-reflection-reconstruction of American national identity. Coined in 1868, the concept of "the Great American Novel" has been evaluated from different aesthetical perspectives, including realism, romance, and multicultural revision, exemplifying the constant efforts of literary critics to demonstrate the Americanness of American literature. With respect to its theme and content, "the Great American Novel" has paid special attention to "the American Dream", in particular in terms of its disillusionment, contributing a distinctive self-retrospection on American national identity. At the turn of the 21^st century, "the Great American Novel" undergoes a "post-ethnic" and "neo-realist" turn, which spares no efforts to reconstruct American national identity when "the American century" draws to a close.

Key words: national literature, Great American Novel, American national identity, American Dream