Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/forgotten-classics-10-brilliant-american-novels-that-deserve-a-comeback/
Stoner by John Williams
Here’s something you might not expect. A novel that was initially overlooked has found a devoted audience in recent years. William Stoner is an ordinary university professor who leads what some might call an unremarkable life, filled with disappointments and setbacks. The beauty lies in how Williams captures the quiet devastation of unfulfilled dreams without melodrama.
The NYRB editions of John Williams’s Stoner were as much the “It Books” of their respective years of republication as anything actually new. There’s something profoundly moving about a protagonist who doesn’t achieve greatness by conventional measures. His struggles with love, academic politics, and the relentless passage of time feel achingly real, almost uncomfortably so.
Let’s be real, it’s hard to say for sure why certain books disappear while others endure. Timing matters more than we’d like to admit. Stoner’s slow-burn appreciation decades after publication proves that literary merit doesn’t always guarantee immediate recognition.
Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
The book, which follows the titular Berkeley grad student as she attempts to sabotage her twin sister’s nuptials, had “modest” sales initially, but over the past year, seemingly every screenwriter, editor, and Ph.D. candidate from New York to L.A. has picked…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-01-21 13:10:00
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