John Williams
Stoner by John Williams is a quiet, unassuming novel with a quiet, unassuming hero. The impact it leaves, however, is profound.
The opening pages of the novel provide a brief introduction to the life and death of William Stoner. Born in 1891 of humble origins, Stoner works on a Missouri farm with his parents. He enters the University of Missouri in 1910 to obtain a degree in Agriculture. But an encounter with a Shakespearean sonnet during a survey class in English Literature leaves him awe-struck. He experiences an epiphany that etches an indelible mark and transforms his life forever. He switches his major to English. After receiving his Ph.D., he teaches at the university until his death in 1956. Along the way, he experiences the impact of two world wars, an unhappy marriage, an estranged daughter, and a love affair with a university colleague. He finds himself embroiled in the petty departmental squabbles frequently plaguing academia. All that remains of William Stoner after his death is a medieval manuscript in the library’s Rare Books Collection contributed by his colleagues to honor his memory.
The simple and straightforward plot is not what makes this an exceptional book. Instead, it is the quality of the writing. John Williams is a magician with words, generating empathy for his unassuming hero with subdued brush strokes. Stoner’s external appearance contrasts with his interiority. It is the difference between a life as seen and a life as experienced. Beneath his demure exterior lies a heart pulsating with powerful emotions that he is unable or unwilling to verbalize. To the outside world, Stoner is mild-mannered, ordinary, shy, awkward, self-effacing, tolerant of his wife’s injustices, insecure, humble, and stoic. Internally, he is intelligent, sensitive, delicate, dedicated to the craft of teaching, and passionate about communicating the transformative power of literature to his students. He plods along, leading a life of quiet desperation while his internal life is rich and imbued with a passion for literature that renders his external life inconsequential.
Williams’ portrayal of the characters orbiting Stoner’s sphere is equally restrained, equally effective, and equally brilliant. In a few short pages, we grasp the character of Edith, Stoner’s wife, even before he does. We recognize her for the shallow, callous, cruel, and emotionally deprived creature she is. We see in Walker, the student with the disability, the arrogance with which he challenges Stoner in the classroom, and his ignorance as he spouts unmitigated balderdash during his oral exams. And in Lomax, Stoner’s colleague and later department chair, we see his petty vindictiveness as he avenges himself on a perceived injustice.
Stoner acquiesces patiently to the many losses in his life. His love for his daughter is thwarted when Edith intentionally drives a wedge between them. His relationship with his lover, Katherine Driscoll, ends abruptly when Lomax forces her to leave the university. But his love for literature and for the transformative power of its words endures. He dies knowing that, in spite of his other failures, his life has been imbued with meaning because of his dedication and unwavering commitment to his craft and to the pursuit of knowledge.
Early in the novel, Stoner says, “He knew that Lomax had gone through a kind of conversion, an epiphany of knowing something through words that could not be put into words . . .”
That is the sense one gets in reading this novel. It is riveting, profound, bigger than the sum of its parts, and suffused with a transcendence that cannot be fully expressed in words.
Very highly recommended.