Where do we place Larry McMurtry?

McMurtry used to wear a sweatshirt that said “minor regional writer.” But, he said, only two American writers were not minor: Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor. That was his standard of greatness.

In the current issue of NYRB Thomas Powers argues that Lonesome Dove (1985) was a great book. He says it rises above others to “explain a culture to itself, help people to know what matters”. Though he thinks it will take another 50 years to know for sure. Your thoughts?