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John Williams' sleeper hit Stoner: Finding perfection in mediocrity
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Our critical consensus on John William's sleeper bestseller Stoner:
- There is almost no plot
- The main character doesn't get the girl, or really succeed at anything
- Gigantic violation of 'show don't tell', starting on literally page one
- WE FUCKING LOVE THIS BOOK
could it be...a perfect novel?
we try figure out why we relate so hard to Mr William Stoner, the great shining exemplar of principled mediocrity.
CHAPTERS
- 00:00:00 - the perfect novel
- 00:06:23 - synopsis
- 00:10:20 - why each of us loved this book
- 00:17:02 - Mediocrity as the modal outcome
- 00:22:26 - Is Stoner a good stoic or too passive?
- 00:33:24 - Edith and toxic femininity
- 00:42:36 - Subverting the hero/saviour trope
- 00:48:00 - The Lomax/Walker feud
- 00:58:30 - Academia as an asylum for misfits
- 01:03:00 - Lust and learning with Katherine Driscoll
- 01:07:30 - Dying with dignity
- 01:10:32 - Where does this stand in the canon?
- 01:17:18 - Ignoring ’show don’t tell’, plain sincere prose
- 01:20:40 - assorted culture war stuff
- 01:28:35 - choosing next book
14 episodes
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