The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel

John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life

Charles J. Shields

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English

Texas University Press
15 October 2018

Biography; Biography: literary; Literary studies: from c 1900 -; Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers

"When Stoner was published in 1965, the novel sold only a couple of thousand copies before disappearing with hardly a trace. Yet John Williams's quietly powerful tale of a Midwestern college professor, William Stoner, whose life becomes a parable of solitude and anguish eventually found an admiring audience in America and especially in Europe. The New York Times called Stoner ""a perfect novel,"" and a host of writers and critics, including Colum McCann, Julian Barnes, Bret Easton Ellis, Ian McEwan, Emma Straub, Ruth Rendell, C. P. Snow, and Irving Howe, praised its artistry. The New Yorker deemed it ""a masterly portrait of a truly virtuous and dedicated man.""

The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel traces the life of Stoner's author, John Williams. Acclaimed biographer Charles J. Shields follows the whole arc of Williams's life, which in many ways paralleled that of his titular character, from their shared working-class backgrounds to their undistinguished careers in the halls of academia. Shields vividly recounts Williams's development as an author, whose other works include the novels Butcher's Crossing and Augustus (for the latter, Williams shared the 1972 National Book Award). Shields also reveals the astonishing afterlife of Stoner, which garnered new fans with each American reissue, and then became a bestseller all over Europe after Dutch publisher Lebowski brought out a translation in 2013. Since then, Stoner has been published in twenty-one countries and has sold over a million copies."

By: Charles J. Shields
Imprint: Texas University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
Weight: 539g
ISBN: 9781477317365
ISBN 10: 1477317368
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 15 October 2018
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction Part I. Nothing But the Night Chapter One: He Comes from Texas Chapter Two: “Ho, Ho! Wasn’t I the Character Then?” Chapter Three: Rough Draft Chapter Four: Key West Chapter Five: Alan Swallow Chapter Six: Love Part II. Butcher’s Crossing Chapter Seven: The Winters Circle Chapter Eight: “Natural Liars Are the Best Writers” Chapter Nine: Butcher’s Crossing Chapter Ten: Fiasco Part III. Stoner Chapter Eleven: “It Was That Kind of World” Chapter Twelve: “The Williams Affair” Chapter Thirteen: Stoner Part IV. Augustus Chapter Fourteen: Bread Loaf and “Up on the Hill” Chapter Fifteen: The Good Guys Chapter Sixteen: “Long Life to the Emperor!” Part V. The Sleep of Reason Poem: “An Old Actor to His Audience” Chapter Seventeen: “How Can Such a Son of a Bitch Have Such Talent?” Chapter Eighteen: In Extremis Epilogue. John Williams Redux Acknowledgments Notes Works Consulted A John Williams Bibliography Index

Charles J. Shields is the author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, a New York Times bestseller, a Literary Guild Selection, and a Book-of-the-Month Club Alternate. His young adult biography of Harper Lee, I Am Scout, was chosen an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, and a Junior Literary Guild Selection. In 2011, Shields published And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life, a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year.

Reviews for The Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel: John Williams, Stoner, and the Writing Life

This rich biography gives new insight into the enigmatic man behind Stoner, a novel quickly forgotten after its 1963 publication but more recently recognized as a midcentury American classic. * Publisher's Weekly *