Mr. Woods, the other day you sent me an article entitled: 'College and University Faculty: what is it like to be denied tenure as a professor?', and you attached a web thread of comments from a few academics. At first this came a bit as a surprise as I have yet to set foot on a college campus here, or overseas (barring a brief visit to NYU for a book party where as usual you nearly made me fall off my chair laughing, with one of your wonderful and humorous monologues). But after giving it some thought, I believe I understand why you went on to add to your message: comments?...
In any event, it was most timely of you, as I have just finished reading "Stoner", an American novel which takes place in the world of academia, the first in-depth one here on this topic. Whether you would also wish to read it is another matter, but I thoroughly found it enriching and rewarding. The story is as follows:
Born at the turn of the 20th century in Missouri, William Stoner, the only child of humble parents on a dying farm, begins at the age of six to toil along with his father, attending the rural school at eight, while working early morning and late evening on a variety of monotonous chores awaiting him at home. At seventeen, his tall and broad shoulders are already beginning to stoop under the weight of this workload. The near-silent family barely subsists, and while Stoner goes through the mechanics of existence, he never complains and follows the sterile life pattern of his father and mother until he is nineteen. An encounter with a country agent engenders a rare conversation between Stoner and his father, who feels that his son might profit from higher agricultural and scientific education, and Stoner enrolls in the University of Missouri in Columbus in the fall of 1910. Starting as a freshman in the College of Agriculture, he soon develops a passion for English literature and feels alive with a sense of awe for the first time. He goes on to become an associate professor in English at the University and never returns home in the true sense of the word.
Early in this psychological novel, there is a generous streak of nobility and chivalry to be found in William Stoner's character, both moving and real, and I found myself following this young man's awakening with emotion as he is taken under the wing of his difficult professor and mentor, Archer Sloane. When Stoner approaches him for advice in April 1917, on whether to enlist with his two friends in the army, Sloane speaks to him harshly about the realities of life as we all go marching on through time.
It is the late author John Williams (1922-1994) and creator of Stoner, who is able with a deep sense of honesty, exquisite clarity of prose and conviction to make one reflect deeply on all these subjects. He treats Stoner with such tenderness and objectivity that I increasingly cared for this decent, intelligent and gentle man. To my mind, he meets the definition of a "Hero".
The structure of this masterpiece is set in a stark and realistic framework where Stoner makes two young friends, also acting instructors in the form of the arrogant, flamboyant and brilliant David Masters and the affable and generous-minded Gordon Finch, three very different men. One memorable evening Dave Masters sums up their respective personalities, situation and future at Columbus: "It is an asylum or a rest home, for the infirm, the aged, the discontent, and the otherwise incompetent - we are The University". When Masters is one of the first casualties of WWI, Stoner having glimpsed once into the living heart of his friend, takes him on in spirit for the duration of his lifetime.
As his story progresses, Stoner falls in love with a beautiful young woman, the daughter of a banker from St. Louis, and the reader realizes perhaps even before they marry, that Edith Bostwick is suffering from mental illness at a time when there is no help for her (the school of Freud is not present here). It is a chilling and unsettling portrait of a marriage, and the impact on Stoner and his future is crippling. His wife who eventually goes on to reinvent herself on the death of her father, will not let him establish a paternal rapport with his young daughter whom he loves, and there is more tragedy in this story.
It is inevitable and with good reason that some readers are going to find 'Stoner' too alienating and sad for their taste, both dull and Spartan. Certainly at a younger age, I might have set this aside as a winter's tale with a frown. But, today what really drew my attention to Stoner is in fact the joy and fulfillment he finds in his work and vocation, his hidden passion for life, his great and requited love affair with a student Katherine Driscoll, happy in so many ways, and eventually his show of character and morality when his great enemy Hollis Lomax attempts to destroy him. If I had to pinpoint what stood out foremost in this novel on a personal basis, it is the showdown between Lomax, using his puppet Walker, a damaged and dishonest student, to ruin Stoner who confronts him at all costs. There was some brilliant irony here when Stoner starts interrogating Walker, and how he is able to expose him. As for Lomax, in his introduction of 'Stoner', John McGahern described as one of the most acclaimed Irish writers of his generation (1934-2006) goes on to say: 'In a novel of brilliant portraits, that of Hollis Lomax is the most complex. Some of the scenes of conflict are almost unbearable in their intensity'.
In conclusion, Mr. Woods, and if you are still with me, I will cite what McGahern has to add in his introduction, while agreeing with him when it comes to the central idea of the novel: 'It is surely that of love, the many forms love takes and all the forces that oppose it". At the end of the story, I felt the loss of a friend in Stoner while discovering a new author in John Williams, who produced as one critic suggested, not only a great novel but a near-perfect one, both moving and highly memorable. Recommend at your leisure and when you and Mrs. Woods have finished unpacking those 30 boxes and more in your new and sunny dwellings.
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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. | Learn more
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From the Publisher
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| Augustus | Butchers Crossing | English Renaissance Poetry: A Collection of Shorter Poems | Nothing But the Night | Stoner: 50th Anniversary Edition | Stoner | |
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| Price | $13.89 | $14.34 | $16.86 | $12.89 | — | $13.99 |
| About this book | Williams transforms and transcends the epistolary novel in his biographical treatment of the founder of the Roman Empire. | The myth of the making of the American west is dismantled in this tale of a Harvard dropout who seeks adventure hunting one of he last great buffalo herds. | An essential anthology of poetry from the period that saw one of the richest flowerings of English verse. | Williams’s first novel is a searing look at a man’s relationship with his absent father, and how early trauma manifests throughout one’s life. | A special hardback edition of the book to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of its publication that also includes a previously unpublished correspondence between John Williams and his agent about its writing and publication. | William Stoner emerges from his dirt-poor Missouri farming family to become an English scholar and an unlikely existential hero, standing in stark relief against an unforgiving world. |
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Reviews with images
Book is exceptional, but damaged in delivery
I gave 5 stars because John Williams is a brilliant novelist who everyone should read at some point, and stoner is a beautiful story.This is my third copy of the book because I wanted the 50th anniversary copy. However, the book arrived slightly damaged by the shipping - corners dented, scuffed, and some water damage on the front. This was annoying but the book was not going to be pristine forever anyway, so I am not going to return it. Just a heads up - would’ve been better if it was shipped in a sleeve or something instead of jostling around in a box.
Top reviews from other countries
Sonia Martínez
Joya literaria que merece un lugar en la colección de cualquier aficionado a la literatura
Reviewed in Spain on February 16, 2024
lazhFolk
An average life told in a very prosaic styl.
Reviewed in France on January 17, 2024Vikash Goyal
Great Read - fresh product
Reviewed in India on August 17, 2021
Vikash Goyal
Reviewed in India on August 17, 2021
Rating - 5/5
Pitch-perfect.
Stoner is the story of a man whose life and death go quite unnoticed and forgotten.
This man, whose life is no less wonderful than any other human being's, is left abandoned. The man, Stoner, a professor by choice is then resigned to fate like a fallen leaf left at the mercy of the wind.
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A beautifully constructed plot, Stoner, does not once leave the reader. Only in a few pages, the reader begins living the life created by John Williams.
The story works on many levels especially in the backdrop of the two world wars. The protagonist and the people around him go through a substantial change post-wars, however subtle. This subtle change, however, can be felt.
Added to that are the intrigues and romance with the hurt that comes with all of it.
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A failed marriage, a failed parenthood, a failed affair, a failed work, a failed friendship and failed life - the story encompasses the world that is not moving; a world that is devoid of intimacy and love, and the only emotion the world lives in is a certain kind of hate.
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Accolades to Mr. Williams for putting out something so brilliant and true, and, serving it with purity.
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This is one of those "can't stop till I finish" books.
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