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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 171 KB, 400x650, John-Williams-Stoner.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6956533 No.6956533 [Reply] [Original]

>> No.6956536

>>6956533
I liked the part where it was sad.

>> No.6956566

>>6956536
So you liked the entire book, besides the last chapter then?

>> No.6956580

When Edith takes Grace from the study ;;;;;_;;;;;
evertim
>>6956566
You're forgetting also his affair with Katherine

>> No.6956607

>>6956533

I loved it, but I can completely understand why people loathe it.

I realize that the following speaks more about me and my flaws rather than the book, but this book encouraged me change my life for the better. I felt like I was heading down Stoner's path, and to see his life blink by, so mundane and unappreciated, scared me, and made me realize how precious the day-to-day decisions and motivations for striving for one's goals matters in the long run.

Again, I really don't know if this is valid praise for the book, but as for me, it scared me straight. I don't want to live a life unfulfilled and on the surface of possibility, due to societal norms or the expectations of other people in my life.

>> No.6956622

I have a theory that people only read this book because of the title.

>> No.6956628

>>6956622
Your theory is wrong.

>> No.6956642

>>6956607
>escaped extremely hard boring life of being a farmer
>becomes tenured professor in a subject he loves
>published a book
>had a hot affair with a student

I don't think stoner had that bad of a life tbh. Probably happier than most people.

>> No.6956646

>>6956580
Yeah, but that was such a short part of the book and it ended because of that fucking lomax guy (FUCK, i hated that guy, he's worses than Edith to me).

>>6956607
I really get what you're saying allthough the peace he found in the last chapter really made me think it wasn't all that bad. I mean the life he lead. In the afterword (which was in my shitty jubileum edition, i don't know about the others) there was an excerpt from an interview with Williams who said he didn't view Stoner as a tragic character, but as having a fairly good life. Dedicated to his trade, honorable in making the best of what life gave him (His goddamn wive and that dementor Lomax). I thought that was an interesting point of view.

>> No.6956653

>>6956646
>FUCK, i hated that guy, he's worses than Edith to me
For sure, fuck Lomax.

>> No.6956659

>>6956622
I have a theory that more people have been turned off by the title.

>> No.6956666

>>6956642
>>6956646

Yes, you're right; I hear you guys. It's been years since I read it. I think I'm going by what I remember going through at the time I read it, and what I was interpreting based on my life at that point. I think I was noting a lot of parallels between some people and situations in my life, and some characters in the book. Really funny how much a person can bring their own shit into a fiction.

>> No.6956672

>>6956642
I agree with you but I'd like to point out that he never officially made tenure because of Lomax.

>> No.6956687

>>6956622
I read in public because of the NYBR cover. It's hella sexy, and people see me reading it and know I'm a serious thinker.

>> No.6956721

>>6956687
NYRB covers are, for the most part, shit. Penguins look much better.

this is not b8

>> No.6956738

>>6956687
I got the cover with the old bearded guy on it, no idea which one that is, it's the popular one here (Belgium). But it's covered in shitty "This is a book you must read-some shitty newspaper" - praise. If you know what i mean. Drained the sexy right out of it.

>> No.6956832

>>6956721
>>6956721
Penguin is pleb-tier. I once saw a guy reading a Penguin edition of Kant's CPR. I sat next to him and kek'd heartily as I reached for my Cambridge edition of CPR with an 80 page introduction, every preface Kant wrote for it, critical essays, study questions, annotations, left facing German translation, AND smyth-sewn binding, cause only serious phil-heads break the spines of books.

>> No.6956842

>>6956653
Yeah fuck that guy.

Did he make the dinner at the end to spite Stoner though, or because he felt repentance?

>> No.6956848

>>6956533
>I just finished reading a book, what do you think about it?

>> No.6956883

>>6956721
Are you baiting by saying it's not bait? Because I can't see this not being bait.

>> No.6956885

>>6956666
The tone did have an overarching sadness to it, and stoner did have a lot of bad thing happen to him that he could have changed for the better (willful victim).

>dem quads

>> No.6956900

>>6956672
He was tenured, remember that lomax could not fire him (just make him an intro birch).

>> No.6956924

>>6956900
No, Lomax couldn't fire Stoner because he didn't have that authority as head of the English department, the dean did.

>> No.6957009

>>6956721
I've legitimately bought NYRB books because of an interesting cover + the country of origin of whatever obscure work they have found.
They look great and intriguing.

>> No.6957013

>>6956848
>i've read a book and i need no other opinion than my own because i'm superior and what other humans think is irrelevant to me. >>6956842
From the way he acted during it, i would say to spite him.

>> No.6957020

>>6957013
Well, i fucked that up.

>> No.6957024

the prose is like a clear pane of glass and perfectly suited to the tone of the novel but not bland or pedestrian.

excellent book imo

also i was particularly impressed by lomax's prevarications during his exam.

>> No.6957032

>>6957013
Well, that got fucked up.

>> No.6957038

>>6956653
I didn't see the problem with Lomax, the problem was Stoner went all slave morality and let his problems control his life.

>> No.6957054

>>6957038
I got that feeling about his relationship towards Edith, things could have been better for him if he had just stepped up. But Lomax was just acting childish, it's boring and idiotic to start a beef with a guy like that. Allthough he did let it get in the way of his carreer. Meh. Idk. Stoner could have done the "i gonna screw all first years"-trick sooner i suppose.

>> No.6957167

>implying the arc of the daughter was not the most depressing gufaW!! yuk yuk. u clowns

>> No.6957250
File: 9 KB, 320x240, 7248214.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6957250

>Katherine's book dedication

>> No.6957364

>>6956721
Yeah, NYRB covers are ugly as sin, and lazy.

>lemme Google for a barely relevant and definitely not evocative image, slab a block with the title and author's name on it... And I'm done

And Jesus, using a still from a Tati film for that one Simenon novel... Psshaw

>> No.6957386

One thing that struck me was the level of the academic discussion in scenes like the exam. Are people really reading books to such an obscure depth? It seemed like that scene in particular was ridiculing academia.

>> No.6957540

>>6957386
It seemed pretty cool to me but the people i know that did english in Uni to a masters degree sure as hell didnt do that stuff.

>> No.6957780

>>6957540
I found it cool & mortifying at the same time.

>> No.6957789
File: 497 KB, 500x375, 1416157514481.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6957789

>>6957250

>> No.6957908

>>6957789
This should really be the book cover...