Stoner by John Williams

The Story

• Setting: It takes place in Missouri, mostly at Columbia University, spanning the first half of the 20th century
• Premise: William Stoner lives and works on a farm with his parents. He knows the farm will be his one day. So, when an opportunity to study agriculture at university arises, his parents want him to enrol. That way, he will add useful knowledge to his growing experience of farming. However, during an English literature course he has to attend in his freshman year, he is struck by a new world he knew nothing about. He then decides to change his studies from agriculture to English literature against the wishes of his family and against their knowledge. He will then pursue an academic career because he feels it is more aligned with who he is. The story follows Stoner’s entire life, as an academic, a husband and a father. And how he tries to balance the different parts of his life.

Historical context

In the background of the story told in Stoner lies the fate of the Lost Generation. It refers to a generation of people who were young adults during WW1, and whose youth was marred by its aftermath: the number of young people who died and the trauma of those who survived. It was also the first World War, and the scale of the conflict and its harshness were unprecedented. It was a shock in itself, even for those who didn’t have to go and fight.
The book presents the historical events this generation experienced in the first half of the 20th century as a backdrop, and how they shaped aspects of their lives and their views on the future. We see how people managed during Prohibition, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and its consequences, and how a seeping despair got hold of most people during the Great Depression. Then a new world war broke out on the unhealed memories of the first one.
Nevertheless, it is not really a historical novel. It tells the story of an ordinary Professor at Jesse Hall, how he is enthralled by his passion for literature and how he copes with the more mundane aspects of his life.

Close reading

I will be very vague to avoid spoiling, but for those who would like to slow read the book, you may want to pay attention to:

• The evolution of his academic career: what event triggers each new step? Compare it to his evolution as a teacher and the evolution of his relationships with the students.
• The evolution of the career of his friend Finch and other colleagues: what are the similarities and differences with Stoner?
• The significance of literature and books in his life. How do events in literature differ from events in real life?
• Places and rooms, and their significance for the characters
• Courtships, marriage and love: how each aspect relates to or not with the other aspects
• Mind Body dichotomy. Body particularities, health and deformities. Personalities and mental health.
• His own evolution as a human being, and self-discovery: what event triggers each new step?
• What image does the book give of the academic world? To what extent does the academic world fit with the real world?