What a tremendous review of an incredible book. I really love the way you ended it.
To me this book is in many ways, the pitfalls of trying to live a principled life. He does not leave his wife, does not admit Walker because he has such unwavering faith in what he believes to be right and good in the world. As Masters tells him, Stoner sees the university as a repository of the “the True, the Good, the Beautiful”.
Williams shows us so plainly that good deeds may not result in good outcomes, but does so without any prescription for the kinds of lives we should live.
Enjoyed this read! Guys like this book because they can relate to a bookish guy who lives an okay though disappointing life, gets into a bad relationship with a woman, and deals with it all in a non-crazy way.
I read Stoner late in undergrad during my (still ongoing?) Sensitive Young Man moment, and of course I loved it, in no small part because I felt it helped me articulate my feelings of alienation from the educational experience I had been having and the values it had imparted to me. As disappointing as Stoner's life turns out, he lives it with a clear and solid sense of what he's doing and why it matters, which attracted me at a time when I felt especially disillusioned with academic careerism. He's a man of letters and he's a teacher, he's not concerned with maintaining a high GPA and getting good references for grad school, etc. That's appealing and moving--and romantic for young men nostalgic for the era of strolling the quad in tweeds with the boys.
What a tremendous review of an incredible book. I really love the way you ended it.
To me this book is in many ways, the pitfalls of trying to live a principled life. He does not leave his wife, does not admit Walker because he has such unwavering faith in what he believes to be right and good in the world. As Masters tells him, Stoner sees the university as a repository of the “the True, the Good, the Beautiful”.
Williams shows us so plainly that good deeds may not result in good outcomes, but does so without any prescription for the kinds of lives we should live.
Enjoyed this read! Guys like this book because they can relate to a bookish guy who lives an okay though disappointing life, gets into a bad relationship with a woman, and deals with it all in a non-crazy way.
I read Stoner late in undergrad during my (still ongoing?) Sensitive Young Man moment, and of course I loved it, in no small part because I felt it helped me articulate my feelings of alienation from the educational experience I had been having and the values it had imparted to me. As disappointing as Stoner's life turns out, he lives it with a clear and solid sense of what he's doing and why it matters, which attracted me at a time when I felt especially disillusioned with academic careerism. He's a man of letters and he's a teacher, he's not concerned with maintaining a high GPA and getting good references for grad school, etc. That's appealing and moving--and romantic for young men nostalgic for the era of strolling the quad in tweeds with the boys.
Nicely written 👍