Stoner is a novel about William Stoner, the son of a poor Missouri farming family who is sent to the state university to study agriculture and instead falls in love with English literature. He becomes a teacher and stays at the university for the rest of his life. The book follows his marriage, his friendships and rivalries, his devotion to teaching, and the small private battles that make up his career. Nothing about his life seems remarkable, yet Williams tells it with such clarity and tenderness that it becomes a moving study of work, love and endurance. Neglected on first publication in 1965, it is now widely regarded as a modern classic.