{"id":12773,"date":"2026-04-21T10:59:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/?p=12773"},"modified":"2026-04-21T10:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:59:47","slug":"did-you-know-mizzous-perfect-novel-published-61-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/2026\/04\/21\/did-you-know-mizzous-perfect-novel-published-61-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Did you know? Mizzou\u2019s \u2018perfect\u2019 novel published 61 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/John-Williams.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/John-Williams-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"John Williams\" class=\"wp-image-12774\" style=\"width:350px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/John-Williams-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/John-Williams-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/John-Williams-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/John-Williams.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">John Williams (Photo courtesy University of Denver Special Collections and Archives.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 60 years ago this week, writer and University of Missouri alumnus John Williams published the definitive novel of Mizzou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Named after William Stoner, a fictional Mizzou professor and the novel\u2019s protagonist, \u201cStoner\u201d achieved a modest reception when released in 1965. In the decades since, it has garnered critical acclaim and international notoriety. It\u2019s been called \u201ca perfect novel\u201d and \u201cthe most beautiful book in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The story follows Professor Stoner from his early life on a farm in central Missouri through his studies and career on campus as an English professor. Familiar landmarks, including the Columns and Jesse Hall, appear alongside a compelling portrait of Columbia in the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Williams drew heavily on his time as a Mizzou PhD student, and the work is dedicated to his friends and former colleagues in the MU Department of English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As our alumni know, Mizzou is a special place. It prepares our community to make a difference and inspires incredible stories like \u201cStoner\u201d that change how we see the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Mun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 60 years ago this week,\u00a0writer and University of Missouri\u00a0alumnus\u00a0John Williams published the definitive novel of Mizzou.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12773"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12780,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12773\/revisions\/12780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}