Why should we read the story of a hero who was born in the late XNUMXth century to a farmer’s family on the cracked gray soil of Missouri?
What do we care about his life, love, death? Before he participated in the First World War or not, how are his wife and lover? Finally, to this philology of his, which replaced his family, earth and sky. Why read about a man whose job it was to plant wheat, but who dropped out of an agricultural college course because at the age of 20 he was poisoned by Shakespeare’s 73rd sonnet? Why is it for those of us whom Shakespeare’s 73rd sonnet did not poison — neither at the age of 20, nor after? What is the secret of the charm of John Williams’ prose — well, except for the excellent style, recognizable characters and such a fabric of text that it seems as if you are watching a movie and not reading a book?
Almost immediately, on page 18, Shakespeare’s sonnet «plowed» Stoner — and he, in a sense, begins to see clearly: as if for the first time he sees his hands, his nails, the floorboards in the audience, the desk top. A dazzling light fills the space of the novel and remains until the end. Do you know this feeling of light and insight? Maybe it’s about choosing a path, about destiny, about finding oneself. Stoner is John Williams himself, this is Anna Gavalda (whose confession “Stoner is me” was put on the cover by the publishers), and Mikhailo Lomonosov, and a little Martin Eden.
The secret of the book’s popularity is also in the piercing sincerity with which the writer speaks about philology — his true love, pain and work. Your only life. We are talking about other matters a little from the outside. Talking about literature is an «I-statement» that, in its honesty and vulnerability, makes you listen and believe. Whoever you are, you’ll say, «I’m Stoner,» and you’ll reread the book.
Translation from English by Leonid Motylev.
Corpus, 384 c.