New book club: Is ‘Stoner’ the perfect American novel?
Is sparse always good?
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New book club: Is ‘Stoner’ the perfect American novel?
Is sparse always good?
Interintellect
and
Anna Gát
Oct 29, 2026
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Attend This Salon
Some authors achieve the impossible: to write down an entire life.
John Steinbeck achieves this. Virginia Woolf does. Marilynne Robinson.
The 20th century’s John Williams did it more than once. Many say his chef d’oeuvre,
Stoner
, is the perfect American novel.
We will get together for an online salon
to discuss its themes, its merits, and what this book means to you.
Come join.
Come and join!
Source:
Preparatory readings — the novel itself — and:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-greatest-american-novel-youve-never-heard-of
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/02/20/mrs-stoner-speaks-an-interview-with-nancy-gardner-williams/
https://www.harvardreview.org/book-review/the-man-who-wrote-the-perfect-novel/
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/books/review/Dickstein-t.html
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