Stoner

Synopsis

William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth century to a poor farming family in rural Missouri. Sent to the state university to study agriculture, he unexpectedly falls in love with literature and dedicates his life to teaching. What follows is not a life of great triumphs or dramatic adventures, but one marked by quiet disappointments, an unhappy marriage, academic rivalries, fleeting love, and the persistent search for meaning in ordinary existence.

Over the course of a lifetime, John Williams transforms Stoner's seemingly uneventful story into something extraordinary. Written with remarkable precision, compassion, and emotional restraint, Stoner is a profound meditation on vocation, dignity, love, and endurance. Once overlooked upon its original publication in 1965, it has since been rediscovered as one of the great American novels, celebrated for its timeless portrait of an ordinary man who lives with uncommon grace.

About the Author

John Williams (1922–1994) was an American novelist, poet, and professor best known for Stoner, Butcher's Crossing, and the National Book Award-winning Augustus. Though his work received limited recognition during his lifetime, it has since earned an international reputation for its elegant prose, psychological depth, and enduring exploration of the human condition. This edition includes an introduction by the acclaimed Irish novelist John McGahern.

Publisher

NYRB Classics

Publication Date

June 20, 2006

Format

Paperback

Pages

288

Subjects

Literary Fiction · American Literature · Campus Fiction · Classics · Psychological Fiction · Literary Classics

ISBN

9781590171998