What an incredible novel! Yes Stoner has this great awakening early in the book, right? Doesn't he go there originally to study agriculture or something? And then he falls in love with English, and he spends his life doing this very careful, unheralded work. It's so fantastic
I lent Stoner from the library on a whim last summer, and it is one of the best books i’ve read. Higher education has, through my life, been an important ambition for me, and this book made that ambition both stronger and more nuanced. I was emotionally invested, maybe even personally invested, in the plot and characters. Every time I see it at the bookstore I contemplate picking up a copy to add to my collection, seeing as I couldn’t keep the one from the library haha.
Your article unfolds gracefully,prompting me to rethink the significance of higher education in our lives. It is not just about preparing for future careers,but about continuing to grow spiritually .
I was lucky to study at LSE in the 1980s, where we still had personal tutors, fortnightly essays with sessions one on one for feedback, invitations to the bar, to coffee, even to some tutors' homes. By the time I became an academic, an undergrad anthroplogy cohort had swelled from 25 to 100, making personalized tuition and relationships impossible. We delivered lectures, but seminar groups were run by teaching assistants, (PhD students). I did my best, still, especially with the ones that the system was not set up for; and am warmed when, every so often, an ex student is in touch with life news. The novel I'm writing records some of the tough situations faced by staff and students in the current underfunded and over-homogenised set-up. Stoner is a beautiful and nostalgic novel and utterly unrecognisable as an environment. Yes, everyone has lost out.
Wow, that sounds like a special undergrad experience! I wish we still had programs like that in the US. Better yet, I wish it was something universities saw as vital and invested in. I think that would draw students back into academia more than anything else. Let me know how your novel goes!
I re-read Stoner on a regular basis. Thank you for applying its lessons to today's academic world.
I’m glad the book has found a place on your shelf. My hope is that it will find a place on other’s, too.
What an incredible novel! Yes Stoner has this great awakening early in the book, right? Doesn't he go there originally to study agriculture or something? And then he falls in love with English, and he spends his life doing this very careful, unheralded work. It's so fantastic
I lent Stoner from the library on a whim last summer, and it is one of the best books i’ve read. Higher education has, through my life, been an important ambition for me, and this book made that ambition both stronger and more nuanced. I was emotionally invested, maybe even personally invested, in the plot and characters. Every time I see it at the bookstore I contemplate picking up a copy to add to my collection, seeing as I couldn’t keep the one from the library haha.
A Stoner collection sounds beautiful and immensely gratifying!
Your article unfolds gracefully,prompting me to rethink the significance of higher education in our lives. It is not just about preparing for future careers,but about continuing to grow spiritually .
Excited to read this soon—I loved Stoner!
I was lucky to study at LSE in the 1980s, where we still had personal tutors, fortnightly essays with sessions one on one for feedback, invitations to the bar, to coffee, even to some tutors' homes. By the time I became an academic, an undergrad anthroplogy cohort had swelled from 25 to 100, making personalized tuition and relationships impossible. We delivered lectures, but seminar groups were run by teaching assistants, (PhD students). I did my best, still, especially with the ones that the system was not set up for; and am warmed when, every so often, an ex student is in touch with life news. The novel I'm writing records some of the tough situations faced by staff and students in the current underfunded and over-homogenised set-up. Stoner is a beautiful and nostalgic novel and utterly unrecognisable as an environment. Yes, everyone has lost out.
Wow, that sounds like a special undergrad experience! I wish we still had programs like that in the US. Better yet, I wish it was something universities saw as vital and invested in. I think that would draw students back into academia more than anything else. Let me know how your novel goes!
Great piece Ellen! Stoner might be the single best novel ever written. Lovely that you’ve found it!
It captures the form of the novel so well. I agree with that take.
Wow aren't you a Stanford student? You worked 20-30 hours? That seems so rare for a Stanford undergrad