Several months ago, I read a review of the 1965 Pulitzer
Prize winning novel – Stoner by John Williams. The plot was described as life story of a man
who goes from farm life to college to get an agricultural degree but gets
sidetracked and ends up being a college English professor instead. That seemed very similar to what happened to
me so I was interested in two things – were there any parallels – psychological
or otherwise and were there any examples of stream of consciousness prose? Stream of consciousness is one of my literary
and psychiatric interests. I was not
disappointed.
For comparison, I went to college because I had a football scholarship. I did not apply to several colleges – I only went to one because
of the scholarship and my vague goals of teaching physical education and
possibly coaching. I developed a serious
case of appendicitis and sepsis so football was not a possibility. A series of
events followed that involved many of the faculty of that college that
resulted in me graduating as a chemistry biology major and eventually going on
to medical school. None of that was
planned by me and in retrospect it seems like I was swept along by the enthusiasm
and concerns of my professors. I don’t
think that would have been possible at any other place than the small liberal
arts college that I attended. I know several others who had similar experiences
there and went on to highly successful professional careers. Ironically, when
our small college closed two years ago, it left behind a tragic void—all the
unrealized potential of the students who will never get to attend.
William Stoner was born as an only child and raised on a
farm in late 19th century Missouri. As
the story begins, we hear about the rigors of farm life and the stoic approach
taken in his family of origin. His father talks with him about a new
agriculture degree available at the College of Agriculture at the University of
Missouri in Columbia. He explains the
crop yields are low and more scientific methods may improve the yield and
sustainability of their farm. Stoner
accepts his father’s suggestion and arrangements to live on his mother’s
cousins farm where he can work for room and board while paying for tuition. He
expects to complete his degree and return to the farm.
From the outset he is described as tall, thin, awkward, and
having a stooped posture from all of the hard physical labor on the farm. Williams describes him as an unremarkable and not memorable
man. His physical labor is only slightly
diminished with his initial living arrangements. His first year in school was routine. In the second year he had a life changing
event.
He was taking a required survey of English literature from
Prof. Archer Sloan. Sloan was described
as being disliked by most of his students because of his detached teaching
style as if he knew he was unable to convey all that he knew about literature
to the students. Stoner notices he was
getting frequent images of Sloan and his speech patterns away from the
classroom and engaged in other activities.
He had initial difficulty with the class. One day in class Sloan asks about Shakespeare’s
Seventy-Third Sonnet – specifically what does it mean? He calls on two students and after giving an
elaborate introduction of the poem calls on Stoner. Stoner is unable to answer and the class is dismissed. With no explanation we learn in the next
semester that he dropped his science courses and added history, philosophy, and
English literature. The process suggested
to me that he identified with Prof. Sloan at some level.
The next two years he was immersed in study and experienced
a change in his experience of reality. In his fourth year, he has a more
cordial meeting with Sloan who asks him about his plans and then announces that
he is going to be a teacher. They outline a plan to get him on a path to his
master’s degree and then his PhD. At this critical point, Sloan possesses a
clearer vision of Stoner's path than Stoner himself does. When Stoner asks for clarification of his
certainty, Sloan replies “You are in love, it’s as simple as that.” Referring
to Stoner’s love of the subject material.
All of this happens in the first chapter that ends with
Stoner explaining to his parents that he will not be returning home after
graduation. They are shocked but deal
with it in the expected quiet desperation of deeply disappointed parents who
never express much emotion. Williams describes these scenes perfectly in third
person narrative.
The next chapters follow the course of Stoner’s life and
relationships. His erratic marriage to
Edith and his personal relationship to their daughter Grace. Edith is described as a thin attractive women
shaped by her privileged upbringing to expect that she will be taken care
of. She has no interest in academics and
her attachment to Stoner fluctuates significantly over the course of the book.
At times Stoner had to care for the home and their young daughter when Edith was
withdrawn and isolated. They eventually
come to an equilibrium where she is concerned but at a considerable
distance.
He has two close friends that are described more as
acquaintances. One of them eventually
becomes a Dean at the University and offers him some cover from the department
head who is his arch enemy and would fire him if possible. There is an affair with a
younger instructor that eventually leads to scrutiny and pressure that causes
her to leave and move to another college. The effects of two world wars and
various health crises are described. One
of his two friends is killed in WWII almost immediately. As time passes, Stoner
is becoming more of an academic and a better teacher.
Stoner’s relationship to his daughter Grace becomes a
central part of the book. During the time when he is caring for the home while
Edith is isolated and seemingly ill, he is also responsible for taking care of
Grace. He alters his work and
preparation schedule so that he can do more of it at home and watches her at
the same time. He sets up his study to accommodate her and she draws while he
is working on his courses. Edith eventually takes a more active role in Grace’s
life, bans her from Stoner’s study and fills her schedule with social
activities. She becomes a frail and
anxious person like Edith, hardly talking with Stoner. She ultimately becomes a more tragic figure
after losing her husband in the war. She
returns home to visit him at one point and although she has developed a problem
with alcohol – Stoner thinks he is glad that she has alcohol to comfort
herself.
The main characters outside the family in this novel include
Katherine Driscoll – a young instructor in Stoner’s department and Hollis Lomax
the head of the department. We see Lomax
become Stoner’s arch nemesis early in the plot when they disagree on the
promotion of a graduate student. During
an oral examination, Stoner demonstrates that the student lacks the basic
knowledge base to continue in the graduate program but Lomax disagrees. After Stoner refuses to compromise, Lomax
increases his teaching burden of lower-level courses, refuses to promote him
even though Stoner has tenure and is a well-liked and productive teacher. The conflict becomes more heated when the
affair between Stoner and Katherine Driscoll becomes widely known and Lomax
threatens to fire her. Both Lomax and Stoner are communicating through
surrogates at that point.
Katherine Driscoll and Stoner have an intense intimate
relationship. Stoner is fulfilled by the relationship and it causes him to examine
his thoughts about love over the course of his lifetime. When the relationship becomes more known – it
leads to the inevitable ultimatum from Lomax and societal pressure to end
it. In Katherine Driscoll’s interest she
decides to move to another school and is eventually successful there and
published a book that Stoner reads. He
notices that it is dedicated anonymously to him.
I will not discuss the ending except to say that it
continues the main themes of the book.
Many reviewers suggest this book is about an average man living an
average life. They suggest it is a
celebration of that averageness. I see
it somewhat differently. Just living
anywhere requires a tremendous sustained effort. Many force that thought out of their awareness
every day as they go to work and either do a job they do not like or as in
Stoner’s case – work a job they like but suffer because their manager is not a
reasonable person. In those cases, most
people do not rebel and lash out but put their shoulder to the wheel and keep
pushing ahead no matter what. Stoner’s
life was permanently altered by his love of literature. He becomes a devoted teacher protecting the
integrity of his discipline. When
pressured he retreats into this work with stoic discipline and dedication.
I had the random thought last week that nearly all of the
professors who taught me in college and medical school are dead. They were all dedicated scholars but none of
them were famous. I was profoundly
saddened by that thought. All of that work and dedication – to be celebrated by
a few grateful students in relative anonymity. Getting back to the questions
posed at the outset of this post – yes - I think this story reflects some of my
experience in college and how it changed my life. And – yes - there is some stream-of-consciousness
writing – but not much. Williams writes a precise and almost perfect third
person narrative about William Stoner.
He describes an episode of delirium near the end of the book that is
very good and relies on elements of stream of consciousness. The Shakespeare Sonnet epiphany in class
that changed Stoner’s life trajectory was another brief example:
“…He looked away from Sloane about the room. Light slanted
from the windows and settled upon the faces of his fellow students, so that the
illumination seemed to come from within them and go out against a dimness; a
student blinked, and a thin shadow fell upon a cheek whose down had caught the
sunlight. Stoner became aware that his fingers were unclenching their hard grip
on his desk-top. He turned his hands about under his gaze, marveling at their
brownness, at the intricate way the nails fit into his blunt finger-ends; he
thought he could feel the blood flowing invisibly through the tiny veins and
arteries, throbbing delicately and precariously from his fingertips through his
body.” (p. 13)
Many critics write about Stoner as an existentialist novel. Whenever I think of existentialism I reflect
on Yalom’s dimensions of death anxiety, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness.
Those themes apply not only to Stoner but several other characters in the plot line. In
Stoner’s case his isolation within his own marriage is an extension of
the emotional isolation he had growing up with distant parents. He carves out an existence within his home as Edith isolates herself and removes Grace from his influence. Although Stoner seems to live a life of
tolerance and passive acceptance of his predicament – his life trajectory is altered
by radical freedom of choice when he chooses to abandon farm life in
favor of academia, refuses to pass an incompetent student over his department
head’s strong objection, and elects to end his affair with Katherine Driscoll rather
than ruin her career. Although more implicit
at no point did he consider divorcing his emotionally estranged wife.
In terms of meaningfulness, Stoner treats scholarship and
teaching as an intrinsic good and an organizing factor in his life. He
recognizes that his contributions to his field are modest. His only book was a monograph from his
doctoral thesis that was not widely read and did not bring him any fame. In the final analysis, it was proof he had
lived a life faithful to his goal of scholarship.
Stoner’s sophomore epiphany can also be seen in
psychodynamic terms. Identification
occurs when an individual unconsciously adopts the traits, values, or posture
of an admired figure, incorporating them into their own ego ideal. He does not want to just learn from Stone –
he wants to be like him. He introjects
Sloan’s love of literature, institutionalized approach to university life, and self-discipline. Any identification with his father and farm
life are gone at that point. In this
type of identification, it does not stop with introjection it also requires
generativity consistent with the identification and Stoner does that throughout
his teaching career.
In reading a book like Stoner, it may be temping to think “I
am Stoner.” Or “We are all Stoner” because of some of the common elements. As I mentioned at the outset, my trajectory
was very similar to Stoner and as an old man who teaches psychodynamics – I have
attributed it to identifying with many of my undergraduate and medical school
professors. In most of those cases I
worked with them intensely for 3 or 4 months and never saw them again. The identification in my case opened up a world
of possibilities that I could not have imagined. But Williams’ novel points out all of the nuances
in a life beyond what you do or do not imagine for yourself and who you identify
with. The interactions between Stoner
and all of the important people in his life – especially the emotional tone cannot
be predicted and there are rarely any good resolutions. There are too many
permutations of what can happen in any life to say you would probably react
like Stoner. In the end, Stoner achieves
hard-won satisfaction with his life despite multiple failures because he can
claim it as his own.
George Dawson, MD, DFAPA
Supplementary 1: Even though I did not come right out and say
it – I highly recommend this book. Reading it is without a doubt more enjoyable than
reading my obsessive review. I have not
encountered a novel written like this before and it is very unique. All of Stoner’s 60+ years are packed into 278
pages and Williams keeps it moving right along. The description of characters who are
emotionally unexpressive or unpredictable expressive is first rate. Anyone involved in academic or medical administration
politics will relate immediately to the type of conflict Stoner has with his
department head.
Supplementary 2: Physicians
may find this novel particularly interesting.
Stoner’s monastic academic career resembles the career of most physicians.
Lifelong study without acclaim and the only reward being the knowledge that you
are doing an adequate job. The field has
to be approached with the same level of integrity that Stoner approaches
English literature. The impact on the
family is high even though in Stoner’s case – his wife had a large role in
that.
