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    In Stoner's mind: to be John Williams: Discovering the american author
    In Stoner's mind: to be John Williams: Discovering the american author
    In Stoner's mind: to be John Williams: Discovering the american author
    Ebook94 pages44 minutes

    In Stoner's mind: to be John Williams: Discovering the american author

    By AA.VV. (a cura di Mario Giudici)

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    About this ebook

    It often happens, at the end of a book which is important to us, to ask ourselves how the idea of that story was born, how and by whom the protagonist that struck us was conceived. Sometimes, when digging up, we can be left disappointed. At other times, a new world ready to be explored opens in front of us with the awareness that the novel does not actually end with the last page, but it continues in the life of its author.
    This is the case of John Williams (1922-1994), American writer who remained on the fringes of great literature until after his death and was praised for the rediscovery of Stoner, a novel which had to wait over forty years to turn from a hidden gem into a bestseller. In the folds of the veil seeming to cover the existence of this brilliant, learned and tortured professor at the University of Denver, there appears to glimpse at a reflection of William Stoner, the main character of his most famous book. A reflection that actually, after all, catches just one facet, however pure and sparkling, of the life of John Williams. For decades a cult object and a silent source of inspiration among students, professors, journalists and writers, Stoner is just one of the literary "clues" left by the writer.
    The life of the American author could easily inspire a novel of its own: dolorous and dynamic, full of disappointments, but also full of accomplishment built over time and with great difficulty, ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. Through an itinerary also punctuated by unreleased images, this report portrays the author after having followed his tracks in Colorado, in Arkansas and in Missouri, discovering his personal documents, places he knew and the people who knew him.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMario Giudici
    Release dateAug 5, 2018
    ISBN9788828368724
    In Stoner's mind: to be John Williams: Discovering the american author

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      Book preview

      In Stoner's mind - AA.VV. (a cura di Mario Giudici)

      Credits

      Introduction

      I went into the bookshop on one of those days when I needed to escape from reality. When I'm in that phase, I like taking refuge among the shelves in search of a secret passage toward some imaginary place. My book was on one of the more anonymous shelves to which somewhat maligned, although skilful, authors had been relegated. My eyes were wandering on the volumes on display when my view stopped on a cover which recalled the wallpaper of a farm dwelling in the Old West. On that decorated wall, you could also distinguish two paintings: on the round, smallest one, there was a cowboy riding in the pasture; on the biggest, which was only partly visible, you could clearly recognize a buffalo. I looked at the name of the author: John Williams.

      John Williams

      I liked that name. He seemed like a forceful writer. I read the back cover: Butcher's Crossing was the story of a boy, Will Andrews, who in 1873 leaves a comfortable city life to discover himself in a place of wonderful and uncontaminated nature: the Far West. I bought it and started reading it right away. It was one of those novels requiring some kind of effort from the reader. But then, it can give a lot in return. An apparently simple, cold and detached writing outlined such realistic scenery that they gave me the feeling of physically entering the story. Riding with Will Andrews in the pasture, closely watching Miller's killing spree visited upon the buffalo herds, feeling on my skin all the harshness of those lives led to the end by a wild and inexorable nature, I understood that book really had the keys to enter the true Old West.

      Having finished the novel, what struck me was that the back cover displayed a series of comments from critics, but they didn't concern Butcher's Crossing. They all referred to another book by William: Stoner. A strange thing that aroused my curiosity, making me unconsciously mark that title in a corner of my mind. As it always happens when our attention is drawn by an object of particular interest, from that moment on, wherever I turned, I bumped into this book. It seemed like the whole world suddenly decided to talk about Stoner: the newspapers contained flattering reviews of it, the happy hour with friends of friends turned into a literary salon dedicated to this title alone. Even celebrities you'd never have suspected felt they had to express their enthusiastic opinions about it in the interviews. Some time later, I passed my usual bookshop and Stoner was there in the window, watching me with his glasses from the volume's cover. I went in and bought it without much thought.

      The italian edition of Stoner

      I started reading doubtfully, but it didn't take much for me to realize that there was a masterpiece in front of me, one of those books that really changes your life. At the end of that pinwheel of deep emotions, I wondered what character this author should be. He was able to give form to a life as sweet as it was tormented, both realistic and fictional. I looked online and I realized that little was known about John Williams, but that his life was made of the same cells that made Stoner, his most famous creation. Like two non-identical twins.

      The more I studied his personal story, the more I seemed to discover an inexplicable affinity tying me to this author. What fascinated me of his books was the deep humanity that the characters were able to display and, when putting together the pieces of his life, I started realizing how, beyond his extraordinary talent for writing, there was an uncommon sensitivity. A sensitivity that appeared especially in his books because John Williams didn't like to reveal his most intimate details with anybody. In the pages of his novels emerged therefore the most delicate, emotional, almost feminine side of John, a side forged by the shocks he suffered during childhood and war. Beyond his work, however, there was a John about whom little was known and written: there were the cynical and reflective dandy, the party-goer who loved having fun with friends until late at night, the suitor, the strict but fair professor.

      And that is how I

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