Stoner (novel)

Stoner is a 1965 novel by the American writer John Williams. Published on April 23, 1965 by Viking Press, the novel received little attention on first release, but saw a surge of popularity and critical praise since its republication in the 2000s. It has been championed by authors such as Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Bret Easton Ellis, and John McGahern.

Stoner has been categorized under the genre of the academic novel, or the campus novel. Stoner follows the life of the eponymous William Stoner, his career and workplace politics, marriage to his wife Edith, affair with his colleague Katherine, and his love and pursuit of literature.

Plot

William Stoner is born on a small farm in 1891. One day his father suggests he should attend the University of Missouri to study agriculture. Stoner agrees, but following an encounter with Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 in Archer Sloane's English course, falls in love with literature. Without telling his parents, Stoner quits the agriculture program and studies the humanities. He completes his MA in English and begins teaching. In graduate school, he befriends fellow students Gordon Finch and Dave Masters. World War I begins, and Finch and Masters enlist, but despite Finch urging him to join the war, Stoner remains in school after a talk with Sloane. Masters is killed in France, while Finch sees action and becomes an officer. At a faculty party, Stoner meets and becomes infatuated with a young woman named Edith. He proposes marriage to her and she cancels a trip to Europe so they can marry.