Stoner

New York Review Books Classics.

William Stoner is born at the close of the nineteenth century to a destitute farming family in rural Missouri. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he unexpectedly discovers a passion for English literature and chooses the life of a scholar—an existence far removed from the harsh fields of his childhood. In the classroom and among books, he glimpses a calling that feels both sustaining and true.

Yet Stoner’s life unfolds not in triumph, but in quiet trials. His marriage into a “respectable” family distances him from his roots and grows increasingly loveless. His academic career stalls amid petty rivalries. His wife and daughter withdraw from him. Even a profound and renewing love affair is cut short by the threat of scandal. With each disappointment, Stoner turns further inward, returning to the stoic endurance of his forebears and confronting the fundamental solitude at the heart of his existence.