We are truly spoiled for choice with the great novels of academia in American literature. There are many, and they’re all so good. In this post, however, I want to highlight a novel that I believe to be the absolute best of the genre because it explains so much about academia. The novel in question is not political. And that is fitting because, believe it or not, the main problems of academia are not in the least political. Or rather, academia gets into political trouble because it is incapable of solving its non-political problems.
Stoner by John Williams depicts a college professor who is extremely typical. He is a good person who genuinely loves reading and wants to live the life of the mind. But he has no executive function. He won’t move a millimeter to organize for himself the kind of life that he would enjoy. This is widespread in academia where people routinely refuse to do the very thing that would bring them joy. They end up blaming “society” or “structural injustice” or “capitalism” for what is, in reality, a weakness of character. The politicization of self-imposed weakness is absent from Stoner but is everywhere in our lives today.
Unlike many novels of academia, Stoner is not humorous. It’s sad. I don’t think that the author’s intention was to make his readers angry or frustrated with Stoner. A reader who is not an academia is likely to feel compassion for the character. I am an academic, however. I am surrounded by people who will complain endlessly about the world’s injustice but wouldn’t bother to organize a comfortable writing schedule for themselves or find out what it is the prevents them from getting published. I strongly believe that many academics would have a much more positive view of the society in which we live if, instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they started working on their productivity and fighting their own laziness instead of imaginary power imbalances.
Clarissa's Blog 