RexLegendi reviewed John Williams : Collected Novels by John Williams
Review of 'John Williams : Collected Novels' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
At times John Williams (1922-1994) writes with an ominent style. His 1965 novel Stoner could in a sense be seen as a manifesto of the insignificance of human life. Williams’ protagonist William Stoner is an ‘ordinary’ man, born in the late 19th century on a small farm, who spends his life in the service of the University of Missouri. Williams starts with a simple comment on Stoner’s death:
Stoner’s colleagues, who held him in no particular esteem when he was alive, speak of him rarely now; to the older ones, his name is a reminder of the end that awaits them all, and to the younger ones it is merely a sound which evokes no sense of the past and no identity with which they can associate themselves or their careers.
Life passes Stoner by. After graduation, he finds a job at his university, then stumbles into marriage, only to …
At times John Williams (1922-1994) writes with an ominent style. His 1965 novel Stoner could in a sense be seen as a manifesto of the insignificance of human life. Williams’ protagonist William Stoner is an ‘ordinary’ man, born in the late 19th century on a small farm, who spends his life in the service of the University of Missouri. Williams starts with a simple comment on Stoner’s death:
Stoner’s colleagues, who held him in no particular esteem when he was alive, speak of him rarely now; to the older ones, his name is a reminder of the end that awaits them all, and to the younger ones it is merely a sound which evokes no sense of the past and no identity with which they can associate themselves or their careers.
Life passes Stoner by. After graduation, he finds a job at his university, then stumbles into marriage, only to find out it was a failure from the start, while his career gets scarred by an academic feud and never really takes off. Williams describes beautifully how both circumstances and an unwillingness or indifference to make choices lead to early decline. And it’s not just Stoner: his parents, his wife Edith, his daughter Grace, his colleague Lomax, his youth friend Gordon – they all seem to be ‘dead’ in a way, long before they are gone. Perhaps the only one really alive is Dave Masters, whose life comes to an early end in the First World War.
Still the book didn’t upset me: Williams’ writing is just too interesting for that. Depending on the life event, he speeds up and slows down, and so manages to capture a full lifecycle. Due to the place and time Stoner reminded me of Thomas Wolfe’s [b:Look Homeward, Angel|40102036|Daal neder, engel|Thomas Wolfe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526047536l/40102036.SY75.jpg|1156378], but the books have different angles. It is a pity Williams’ true fame didn’t come until after his death.
In his forty-third year William Stoner learned what others, much younger, had learned before him: that the person one loves at first is not the person one loves at last, and that love is not an end but a process through which one person attempts to know another.
Addition for Dutch-speaking readers
Eén van de hoogtepunten van het boek is de academische fittie tussen Stoner en Lomax. In zekere zin lijkt de hoofdpersoon op Nico Sibelijn in [b:Geheime kamers|27870307|Geheime kamers|Jeroen Brouwers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448103216l/27870307.SY75.jpg|1065994] van Jeroen Brouwers. Stoner is echter passiever, wat af en toe ook ergernis bij me opriep. Liefhebbers van [b:Onder professoren|17202292|Onder professoren|Willem Frederik Hermans|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375968165l/17202292.SY75.jpg|312213] van W.F. Hermans zullen dit boek mogelijk ook waarderen, hoewel dat anders van karakter is.
