I Recommend the Novels of John Williams
An amazing trio of underrated books
I recently finished Augustus by John Williams. And with that, I have completed the three most notable works of a relatively obscure 20th century American writer that has fortunately been rediscovered as a master since his death. He is similar to Herman Melville in that he received little recognition for his work during his lifetime. Only Augustus received any sort of meaningful praise; the other two, Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing, remained in obscurity until only recently. If you ask me, the big difference between the two writers is that I actually made it through Williams’ works, unlike Moby Dick. But that aside, the fact is that, without the reissue of his works, and without the readers that unearthed these particular stories from the yellowed pages of years past and knew that they were worth advocating for, I never would have found them. Many modern readers, including myself, owe a deep debt to whomever found these books. So, as my first recommendation on this page, I would like to pay tribute to them by making sure that nobody in my circle has missed this writer.
Stoner was the first of the three John Williams novels that I read. It remains my favorite. I was drawn to it not just because of the praise that the book has received, but also because of its subject: a student, and then a teacher, of literature. At the time I found it, I was still in college studying creative writing, so I felt a particular connection to William Stoner, an obscure and forgotten professor dreamt up by one who died as an obscure and forgotten writer. The book makes this fact clear; the first page is a bird’s eye view of Stoner’s life that emphasizes how little he was remembered after he was gone. The point being that, at least from the outside, he amounted to little. This spoke to a deep-seeded anxiety that I had in my college years, that being the lingering shadow telling me that my writing was really not very good, that it would never be recognized, that I would die in obscurity, and that my tombstone epitaph would define me more than any of the novels that I would write. If this was such a revered book, and it was about someone like that, then I just had to know.
From what I’ve seen, this book has a tendency to be interpreted in a “life sucks and then you die” kind of way. Certainly, the book doesn’t shy away from the facts of life. We see Stoner’s passions throughout the novel, and we also see how things don’t always work out. But my anxiety-ridden little creative writing student self found some level of solace in Stoner. It did not stop me from having my doubts, but it did make me feel like this is a journey worth taking, wherever it lands.
I read Butcher’s Crossing next. My reason for reading this one was much simpler: I knew that I wanted to read something else by John Williams, and this one had trees on the cover. Yes, I really am that superficial sometimes. I love trees.
Butcher’s Crossing is a much different book from Stoner, and it tackles a much different topic: the American frontier. Will Andrews, a former Harvard student, washes up in a small frontier Kansas town in the 1870s seeking to go on an adventure to connect with nature. He ends up joining a buffalo hunt, and of course, things go wrong. This story touches on a number of themes. Among them is one of my favorite: the beauty of nature versus the violence of nature. I don’t like to reveal too much about books I’m recommending (it’s much more fun to discover it, of course), but I found Butcher’s Crossing to contain one of the strongest and most visceral evocations of this particular tension. It’s a slow burn, and I loved every second of it.
Last up was Augustus. This book is, once again, a very different book from the other two. Williams never really wrote the same kind of book twice. A western, a campus novel, and an epistolary historical narrative. Quite the range.
As one might be able to guess, this book takes us back to ancient Rome, following the life of Gaius Octavius Caesar (later known as Augustus) from the time that his uncle (Julius Caesar) was assassinated to the end of his life, showing us his rise to power and rule in the process. It tells this story through a series of documents strung together to form a narrative: letters, journals, recorded speeches, senate motions, and the like. Through the process, we see the variety of the written voices of these historical characters and gain a unique perspective on their lives.
This one was my personal least favorite of the three that I read, but I think that that has more to do with me than the book. Ancient Rome is not a time period I know much about, and I have never cared to learn more of it. Accordingly, the portions of the book dedicated to the machinations of politics and military units and the senate did not capture me to the extent that the previous two books did. Though I preferred Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing for being much closer to their main characters, I also recognize that many aspects of this book might have been enhanced if I had come in with a stronger understanding of the time period, or at least a stronger interest in it. But make no mistake: being my least favorite John Williams novel is like being the worst Olympic athlete. This is still a fantastic book and a very compelling look into an aggrandized historical figure who is (in Williams’ narrative at least) much more weighed down by life than his legendary status may suggest.
So there you have it: my little crash course on one of my new favorite writers. I encourage anyone reading this to try at least one of these three books. If you don’t know which to pick, I say go with Stoner, as that is my personal favorite.
Stoner is a fantastic novel. One of my top ten.