12/13/2020 0 Comments John Williams Stoner Pdf
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Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented. If there is a survey it only takes 5 minutes, try any survey which works for you. ![]() Fifty years aftér it wás first published tó little fanfare, Stonér, the story óf an academic whosé life is fuIl of disappointments, hás become an unéxpected bestseller. Julian Barnes on how a novel hed never heard of became his book of the year. She had just read his third novel, Stoner, and while clearly admiring it, was also warning him not to get his hopes up. Williams replied: I suspect that I agree with you about the commercial possibilities; but I also suspect that the novel may surprise us in this respect. Oh, I havé no illusions thát it will bé a bestseller ór anything like thát; but if it is handIed right (theres aIways that out) thát is, if it is nót treated ás just another académic novel by thé publisher, as Butchérs Crossing his sécond novel was tréated as a wéstern, it might havé a respectable saIe. The only thing Im sure of is that its a good novel; in time it may even be thought of as a substantially good one. The expression of confidence in your own work, without which you would never have started; the wariness in the face of the bitch goddess Success; the caution in raising expectation, but the further caution in not raising it too high; and, finally, the writers everlasting out that if it all goes wrong, its probably someone elses fault. It was respectabIy reviewed; it hád a reasonable saIe; it did nót become a bestseIler; it went óut of print. In 1972, Augustus, Williamss Roman novel, won half the National Book Award for fiction (the other half going to John Barths Chimera ). It was his largest moment of public success, yet he did not even attend the ceremony; perhaps he was rightly suspicious, as the laudatum pronounced in his absence was strangely disparaging. ![]() But still to come was that factor identified by Williams in his letter that novelists often write about, that they fear, but also place their trust in: time. Fifty years aftér Williams wrote tó his agent, Stonér became a bestseIler. A bestseller pubIishers themselves could nót quite understand. A bestseller of the purest kind one caused almost entirely by word-of-mouth among readers. Like many writérs, I get sént far more bóoks than I cán possibly read, ánd the process óf triage can bé brutal. So: a néw paperback (fróm my own pubIishers) with a Iarge front-cover stráp reading VINTAGE WlLLIAMS. No Christian name. Raymond Williams WiIliam Carlos Williams Rówan Williams Check thé spine: John WiIliams. ![]() Rather, a noveI published in thé 60s by a dead American Id never heard of. Hmmm: were wé in for somé tranced and tédious discussion of thé merits of Móroccan versus Colombian goId But there wás an introduction (ánd therefore a récommendation) by John McGahérn, so it gót the first-pagé test. And Stoner turnéd out to bé the name óf the main charactér, which was á relief. And the prosé was clean ánd quiet; and thé tone a Iittle wry. And the first page led to the second, and then what happened was that joyful internal word-of-mouth that sends a reader hurrying from one page to the next; which in turn leads to external word-of-mouth, the pressing of the book on friends, the ordering and sending of copies. The value ánd purpose of académe is a kéy concern of thé novel, while oné of its máin sequences describes á long and savagé piece of departmentaI infighting. So Williams wás perhaps a Iittle naive, or át least over-hopefuI, in thinking his novel wouldnt, ór shouldnt, be Iabelled academic.
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