My fourth uncle talks about "Stoner"

This is the confusion Stoner suddenly fell into when he was halfway through his life. Who is Stoner? What has he experienced in his life? Let's talk about this "Stoner".

My feelings about this novel are plain and intimate. It is not easy to find such kind words in foreign literature, because after all, our cultures are different. But the feeling of "Stoner" is that its writing method is very traditional, there is no particularly complex structure, and there is no particularly uncommon description. It is written very sincerely, as if it is talking about one's own life. So, on a quiet afternoon, it was particularly touching.

The author of the novel is named Williams. Williams was a post-World War II writer, the same period as the Beat Generation, but compared to the novels or poems of Kerouac and Ginsberg, Stoner seems to be particularly well-behaved. His academy is not radical at all, and is even a bit mediocre. But Stoner's life provided an explanation for ordinary people who never made changes, never had radical ideas, and just looked for the meaning of life in their work that never changed. It brought nothing new, nor did it give new guidance to the excited young people at the time.

You would say that Stoner's life was a bit deserted. Indeed, in our passionate imagination of life, he was indeed too lonely and boring. However, for each of us, no matter how peaceful and boring my life is, for me, it is already stormy enough.

Stoner was born on a poor farm, his parents were farmers. When his father was in his 30s, he looked like he was in his 50s, and his waist was already stooped. Stoner began helping his parents at work when he was 6 years old. By the time he was 17, his back had begun to hunch.

After finishing high school, Stoner was recommended to Columbia University's College of Agriculture. Because his parents are very simple farmers, and like most of the Chinese rural parents we are familiar with, they know very little. No matter how hard they work, they support Stoner in going to college. They didn't have any plans for the future, they just knew it might be better this way. They want life to be better, but what better is, they are incapable of imagining.

When Stoner was studying in college, he worked for a relative to offset some of the expenses for accommodation and meals. His father would try hard to send him two or three dollars every month.

This was the beginning of Stoner's life-long learning to think. This beginning has its misfortune. Not all people have the ability to think about the meaning of life, but this thinking does not bring any substantial help, and may often only increase troubles.

Stoner works harder than most students. He also has to do a lot of work in addition to classes every day. Most of his grades are pretty good. Except for English literature, this is the first time he has touched A less practical thing, it’s not about technology, it’s not about systems, it’s not something that can be experimented with, it’s about imagination.

Stoner’s college teacher was named Sloan. This old man was Stoner’s first mentor in life. He changed Stoner’s life trajectory. Stoner later abandoned the agricultural college course and studied literature instead. He himself may not be able to explain why he chose literature. It may be that he does not want to return to the countryside and farm with his parents all his life. This may be the most direct reason.

There are many choices in our lives, none of which are so clear-cut. We don’t know why we chose this way in the first place. It is not filled with a very clear direction. It may come from some guidance from other people. Everyone has his or her first mentor in life. He may not be the person you identify with throughout your life, and you may not even recognize him soon, but he appears in your life in a very special period, and he brings you In a direction that you are not sure about, whether you go well or poorly on this road actually has nothing to do with him. But he has become such a person in your life that you cannot forget. Such a person is often not necessarily a great person, nor a very successful person, but a person around you who you think is trustworthy and sincere.

Just like Stoner's teacher Sloan. He told Stoner that you are a teacher because you love literature, and Stoner became a teacher at Columbia University. Until Stoner retired in his later years, he said: I have taught in college for 40 years, and I don’t know what else I can do if I don’t become a teacher.

We have read many biographies of heroes, many struggles of great men, and legends of geniuses, but we are unlikely to feel spiritual turmoil because of a teacher of 40 years. Because he is not the most brilliant part of our imagination of life, but he is too close to us, so close that you can touch him, so close that you can become him.

Stoner had only two friends in his life, which is not a small number. One is his lifelong colleague Fitch. They are not very deep friends, more like they were polished by time. The other one is Masters who appears and disappears briefly. The three of them are completely different. During a drinking session, Masters described Stoner like this:

Masters summarized Stoner's life character. Stoner was a A person who has expectations for the world, and Masters is a more self-centered person. He lives only for himself. He later signed up to participate in World War I and finally died in Paris. He participated not for God or the country, but for himself and wanted to go out and have a look. This brief friend became someone that Stoner remembered almost throughout his life. He told the story of Stoner's life early on and disappeared.

When we are young, in addition to getting direction from more experienced people, we sometimes find things that we don’t have from our peers, and as time goes by, you will gradually learn from them. Bring yourself into yourself because you know you will never be that person.

Stoner later did not participate in World War I. He believed what his teacher Sloan said: In addition to killing a country's young people, war also kills the soul of a nation. If a nation has frequent wars for a long time, soon all that will be left will be cruel people and animals, and we should not ask scholars to destroy what they have built with their lives. Maybe one day you will be laughed at, but not everyone needs to be included in the same virtue.

So Stoner listened to the teacher. He did not go to the war or die on the battlefield, but stayed in school to continue to be a teacher and continue to take exams.

Stoner loved two women in his life, one was his wife, and the other was love that betrayed marriage.

He met his wife at a party. He fell in love with a woman for the first time. He was originally full of hope for her, but the ending was so empty, without any love in it. Perhaps his wife was equally disappointed. The two resented each other and tortured each other in such an empty marriage, never breaking the marriage. It was not until the end of his life that he found the hope he had when they first met again.

His wife's name is Edith, who was born in a very good family. She has never loved Stoner. She just wanted to get out of her past life, so she chose Stoner. Get married without any emotion.

Edith received the most staid and traditional lady education, went to the best schools, and received some courses in music, painting, literature, handicrafts, etc., but she never liked it herself. Her childhood moral training required her to restrain her desires, turning this matter into a moral concept that should not be exceeded, so this absolute holiness became a disease. This kind of absolute holiness was common under our feudal system in the past, so this thing is not difficult to understand. This kind of thing sometimes suppresses and distorts human nature. In fact, sometimes, dirty and sinful thoughts are also part of our human nature, because they do not violate animal nature, they are just not recognized by the current moral concept. , but they are not allowed to appear in the heart. If you punish yourself and feel dirty because of the so-called immoral thoughts in your heart, you will become psychologically ill.

This paragraph basically explains very clearly how Edith and their marriage reached that point in the end. She may have never thought about being responsible for the happiness of others. This is what her entire childhood, her education, and her life have brought to her. The unhappy parts of their marriage can all be traced back to their source.

But Stoner did not have the opportunity to preview this marriage. This is what most people's marriages are like. They became husband and wife before they had time to understand each other.

Edith is not out of love, maybe she will marry anyone who proposes to her. So she told Stoner more on the day she first met him than she has since.

Edith was completing some fixed arrangements in her life. She got married without any enthusiasm, without any expectations, and without any physical desire after marriage. She gave birth to children, but she did not like children herself. As time passed, she completed After understanding these things that a wife must do, the disappointment will become more and more intense. She has to restrain her image as a wife, but she cannot suppress it all the time. Therefore, Edith would appear to be a little neurotic and moody, with no warning or purpose. She suddenly became unhappy and cried suddenly, and then returned to her elegance. She continued to use reasonable methods in her resentment, Torturing Stoner mentally, they will not quarrel violently, just like their parents, who seem to have never quarreled in their lives. The only unhappiness is that the two may not have spoken for a week, and they will not divorce. Because they feel this goes against the education they received. She found some fun of her own and vented her dissatisfaction and resentment through her daughter. Like her parents, Edith was indifferent to Stoner throughout her long life, and Stoner gradually No feedback would be given to her, and even much later, when Stoner betrayed his marriage, Edith felt nothing at all.

Only when Stoner was 43 years old did he know who he ultimately loved from his favorite lover. However, the past love may also be love, but it never brought any good things. That part of him, or maybe he was too short-lived and disappeared in just one night. Compared with his own life, it was too short. And the torture for this seemed so long.

There must be at least one enemy in our lives. From your perspective, that person must be very dirty and ugly. Similarly, from his perspective, you are also accused of being such a person.

Stoner's lifelong enemy was Lomax, his university colleague, a man with a physical disability that made him very narrow-minded. In fact, Stoner and Lomax are similar. They both had unhappy childhoods and similar low self-esteem.

But Lomax later exaggerated this sympathy for himself and even lost his principles. He overly believed that physical disability would bring ideological depth.

Lomax began to hate Stoner because of a student named Volker. Walker, like Lomax, was physically disabled, so Lomax hated Stoner. He had a very special compassion and understanding as his mentor, and he always believed that Walker was a gifted student.

Walker studied in Stoner's class for one semester. The class was full of provocation and lack of education. He seemed to despise Stoner, but he actually knew nothing about it. You know, he doesn’t even understand the most basic common sense of literature. He is like a student who has never learned sketching. He emphasizes every day that his scribbling is breaking everything, creating a genre, etc., and finally in During the thesis defense, Volker not only did not write the thesis, but also gave an impromptu speech that made fun of others.

Because of Walker's physical defect, it gradually turned into a psychological defect. His low self-esteem actually gave rise to an excessive arrogance and contempt. He believed that he was unusual and had unconventional characteristics. Some of his thoughts, he lacks the most basic education and courtesy, is full of aggression, but pretends to be humble and polite. There are some darkness and deeper resentments deep in his heart. He is very lazy and unreliable. Maybe he can Become a speaker, be a politician, be a writer. But in Stoner's case, he must not be a teacher with a solid foundation. Because teachers need to teach others and teach others some basic theories, which he does not possess, Stoner insisted on his principles and did not let Volker pass the exam. Volker became a vicious person. He wanted to take revenge on Stoner, so Lomax didn't know why. He might feel that Stoner was destroying a genius. He might feel that Stoner was not tolerant of their flaws. He seemed to be offended. , In the long battle between the two, Lomax became the dean of the department. He won, and Volk returned to the campus proudly.

Stoner was assigned to teach the most elementary courses in the worst classrooms. Another thing about Lomax is that he hates someone for the rest of his life. He will not reconcile with you, he can continue to hate you, and Lomax will not let go of Stoner until he retires.

In fact, it is difficult to imagine that the hatred in Lomax's heart is so strong. For something that is not that important, maybe he hates himself.

At this time, Stoner was already 42 years old. He was originally the best professor at Columbia University, but because of this incident, he fell into confusion. No matter what age we are, we will all encounter this age. some problems that cannot be solved.

In his later years, Stoner became even more indifferent to his colleagues. He was also unwilling to participate in various speeches. He was described by young teachers as a stubborn, unreasonable old man with a bad temper. This image is actually very common many times, but he is extremely patient with his students. He puts all his energy and tenderness on the students. He has no energy to care about others anymore. Don't care anymore. Undoubtedly, he is the most competent teacher in this school.

Since he was a student, Stoner has only written one book, and that was to get his PhD. In fact, he preferred to spend time completing his second book because it It will be more valuable and meaningful to his life. But he gave all his time to the school. He should have been respected by everyone, but the young teacher didn't know whether it was out of jealousy, contempt, or inability to treat an old man who was about to finish his life. *In love, they regarded Stoner's dedication as a joke and used many witticisms to ridicule him.

When we are about to exit our lives, we must be incompatible with this world. It's just that some people look respectable and some become run-down.

Stoner eventually got cancer. He originally wanted to delay retirement and teach for another two years.

At the last moment of his life, his daughter came over to see him in a hurry and never saw him again. Stoner once loved his daughter so much, but in the end he let her become a burial object of their failed marriage.

He seemed to feel that he had reached some kind of reconciliation with his wife. As he lay in the hospital bed, his wife, Edith, sat next to him.

Finally, Stoner left the world holding the only book he had ever written. The book slipped from his hands, past his motionless body, and fell into the eternal silence of the room.

If a person has not experienced any great things in his life, which is enough for people to remember him, even your daughter, wife, and friends are not enough to remember you, then how can you prove that you are What’s the meaning of living?

Especially for a person who has the ability to think about this issue, then all he has left is the book he wrote, the painting he painted, and the one work he left behind. He is a part of himself. And it will always exist. It proves that there was once a person like you in the world, and there is no other meaning.

As for the part of flesh and blood that is alive, perhaps only Stoner and ourselves know that as a son, as a husband, as a father, as a lover, as a colleague, he is incomplete. Only as a teacher, he is complete. perfected oneself.

I believe that most people will not deliberately pursue anything in their lives. They all walk along a similar trajectory. The misfortune and luck in it are unknown. In the eyes of others, they are all boring and similar. , only we ourselves will understand that he is a turbulent sea in our hearts.

(I watched the video of my fourth uncle talking about "Stoner" on site b. I liked it very much and watched it several times. Then I finished reading the book "Stoner" on WeChat Reading. However, The one I read is not the same translation as Fourth Uncle’s. After reading it, I couldn’t write down my thoughts after reading it, and I really liked what Fourth Uncle said, so I spent an afternoon typing out what Fourth Uncle said.)