SOURCE: “American Dreaming,” in American Book Review, Vol. 10, November, 1988, p. 9.

In the following review, Taylor discusses the satirical exploration of the American Dream in The Man Who Was Not with It and Dreaming.

If there is an English equivalent of the American Dream, it is essentially domestic; its literary roots are Homeric: the wanderer is always really on his way home, and home is fairly unsurprising; despite the annoying suitors, Penelope is the same as ever. The American Dream has a more biblical flavor. Our Abraham and Sarah, impelled by some inner command or outward necessity, journey forth into an unknown country, guided by restlessness and faith. Our Moses, seeking relief from the false security of bondage, moves towards the Promised Land. And, as in the Bible itself, there are both a lowbrow and a highbrow version of the dream. There is the simple dream of land, fresh...