Birthday Book Recs 5/50 : Stoner by John Williams
Stoner by John Williams
Birthday Book Recs: 5/50
Stoner by John Williams
Here’s an American novel that was pretty under the radar upon its publication in 1965, but then became a big thing first in France around 2011 when a French translation was published. Et voilà! John Williams became the talk of the American literary world posthumously.
I initially was drawn to this novel for its plainspoken Midwest protagonist who is trying to come to grips with his disappointing marriage, family life, and career. (Wow, uplifting!) It’s quite sad, but, I believe, also quite real. To me, the whole publication and reception journey just adds an extra layer to the novel’s story. I wrote about this one for my blog in 2014: “Stoner, by John Williams—originally published in 1965—made a big splash when it was reprinted by Vintage in 2012. A relatively unknown compact novel, it cryptically arose as a posthumous breakthrough (nearly fifty years after its debut) for Williams, who died in 1994. At the end of 2013, Julian Barnes reviewed the book for The Guardian. What I find most interesting about his review is Barnes’ exploration of why the book has seemed to generate more enthusiasm in Europe (and Israel, apparently) than in America, Williams’ homeland. A couple of theories are presented, but the most prominent one is that Americans prefer tales of overcoming strife and embracing heroism, and Stoner is a book full of quiet sorrow without much in the way of redemption. Here’s novelist Sylvia Brownrigg’s response to Barnes’ inquiry: ‘The reticence [of Stoner] seems very notAmerican to me. In spite of the American setting, the character himself feels more English, or European – opaque, fundamentally decent, and passive…Perhaps the lack of the novel’s taking hold in the US is because it doesn’t feel like One of Ours? We’re such a country of maximalists, noisy ones, and though obviously there are exceptions, even our minimalists are not spare and sad in this particular way.’”
(And I guess I got this as part of a 3 for 2 deal at Dubray Booksellers — probably in Blackrock — and while I generally hate the stickers that shops put on books, sometimes they hold memories too…)
You can find all my 50th Birthday Book Recommendations HERE.
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