The critic Morris Dickstein has said that John Williams s "Stoner" is something much rarer than a great novel it is a perfect novel, and in the last decade this austere and deeply moving tale of a Midwestern college professor has been embraced by readers all over the world. Here, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of "Stoner," NYRB Classics offers a special hardback edition of the book that also includes a previously unpublished correspondence between John Williams and his agent about its writing and publication."