/lit/ - Literature

meh it was pretty comfy

>>14622406
I read chapter 1 in tears

>>14622406
well done, well done.

are there any hypotheses regarding the name of the protagonist?
stoner - rest on ?
>testo
steron?

>>14622599
fucking fuck. NO REST. I guess everybody got it already.

>>14622576
>>14622406

I read Stoner expecting it to be some really sad and depressing shit. Instead what I got was a dumb man too afraid to face himself with the reality he was living in, conciously taking bad choices.

It was good, and it is "depressing", but not in that way I've heard people talk about. It's more frustrating and annoyingly depressing.

no he did not, and this book is ultimately about a good and quiet life.

if you think it's depressing you misunderstood it and do not relate to Stoner as much as you think. he never had delusions of grandeur, or at least he had abandoned them long before he died. this is not a sad book, Stoner did not live a sad life you 18 year old losers.

>>14623173
He did what he liked, he became good at what he did.
His life was pretty good.
He inspired a student to become a writer.
Pretty good life if you ask me.

Stoner... easy on the carrots

>>14622576
When his friend dies I was ready to give up on life

>>14622599
Williams based his character loosely on a friend of his second wife. He was a professor of Guatemalan origin named Guillermo Pacheco. He was a cuckold and an avid cannabis user.

How is this not more known, I don't know.

Stoner didn't have a hard life, he had a wasted one. Throughout the book, many obstacles are placed in front of him: his wife, his daughter, his boss. Instead of confronting them and improving his situation, he gives up. There is nothing fulfilling or enviable about his situation but at the same time, he has no regrets. That's probably the worst part.

>>14624977
This. It's a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of impassivity and stoicism.
Stoner finding self-actualization in the catharsis of literature is the intellectual awakening that serves as an inflection point for the rest of his life. The irony is that with every hardship he faces, he's merely a victim of his misunderstanding, failures, and ultimately the circumstances he creates for himself.

>>14625018
Does it matter though, since you aren't Stoner and thus wouldn't have lived lockstep with his life?

>>14625435
Yes, mallgoth. His life was filled with arbitrary misery because he stood and took it and was too stupid to fall. Entire ages of men wasted their lives similarly, and will continue to do so.

>>14625479
Right, but the misery all applied to the parts of life that were peripheral to his own identity. Stoner did stand up firm when it came to flunking Walker, because it was something that mattered to him.

Leave the poor man to his circles.