約翰·愛德華·威廉斯（John Edward Williams， 1922～1994），美國作家、出版人、學者。他出生于得克薩斯州一個農(nóng)民家庭，1942年參加二戰(zhàn)，隸屬于空軍，并在軍中完成第一部小說的草稿。退役后，他進入丹佛大學就讀，1949年獲得學士學位，1950年獲得碩士學位。之后，他進入密蘇里大學繼續(xù)攻讀博士學位。1954年，他獲得了該校英語文學專業(yè)的博士學位。1955年起，他在丹佛大學任教，直到1985年退休。威廉斯一生共出版了兩部詩集及四部小說，其中《奧古斯都》（Augustus）于1973年榮獲美國國家圖書獎。他的第三部小說《斯通納》（Stoner）出版于1965年，當年共售出約2000冊。2003年，《斯通納》在英國再版，但截止到2012年，也只賣出4800多冊。此后，幾乎完全憑借良好的口碑，《斯通納》在多個國家躋身暢銷小說行列，在世界范圍內(nèi)經(jīng)歷了一次“復活”。

Excerpts1）

William Stoner entered the University of Missouri as a freshman in the year 1910， at the age of nineteen. Eight years later， during the height of World War I， he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree and accepted an instructorship at the same University， where he taught until his death in 1956. He did not rise above the rank of assistant professor， and few students remembered him with any sharpness after they had taken his courses. When he died his colleagues made a memorial contribution of a medieval manuscript to the University library. This manuscript may still be found in the Rare Books Collection， bearing the inscription： “Presented to the Library of the University of Missouri， in memory of William Stoner， Department of English. By his colleagues.”

An occasional student who comes upon the name may wonder idly who William Stoner was， but he seldom pursues his curiosity beyond a casual question. Stoners colleagues， who held him in no particular esteem when he was alive， speak of him rarely now; to the older ones， his name is a reminder of the end that awaits them all， and to the younger ones it is merely a sound which evokes no sense of the past and no identity with which they can associate themselves or their careers.

He was born in 1891 on a small farm in central Missouri near the village of Booneville， some forty miles from Columbia， the home of the University. Though his parents were young at the time of his birth—his father twenty-five， his mother barely twenty—Stoner thought of them， even when he was a boy， as old. At thirty his father looked fifty; stooped2） by labor， he gazed without hope at the arid patch of land that sustained the family from one year to the next. His mother regarded her life patiently， as if it were a long moment that she had to endure. Her eyes were pale and blurred， and the tiny wrinkles around them were enhanced by thin graying hair worn straight over her head and caught in a bun at the back.

From the earliest time he could remember， William Stoner had his duties. At the age of six he milked the bony cows， slopped the pigs in the sty3） a few yards from the house， and gathered small eggs from a flock of spindly4） chickens. And even when he started attending the rural school eight miles from the farm， his day， from before dawn until after dark， was filled with work of one sort or another. At seventeen his shoulders were already beginning to stoop beneath the weight of his occupation.

It was a lonely household， of which he was an only child， and it was bound together by the necessity of its toil. In the evenings the three of them sat in the small kitchen lighted by a single kerosene5） lamp， staring into the yellow flame; often during the hour or so between supper and bed， the only sound that could be heard was the weary movement of a body in a straight chair and the soft creak of a timber6） giving a little beneath the age of the house.

The house was built in a crude square， and the unpainted timbers sagged around the porch and doors. It had with the years taken on the colors of the dry land—gray and brown， streaked with white. On one side of the house was a long parlor， sparsely7） furnished with straight chairs and a few hewn tables， and a kitchen， where the family spent most of its little time together. On the other side were two bedrooms， each furnished with an iron bedstead enameled white， a single straight chair， and a table， with a lamp and a wash basin on it. The floors were of unpainted plank， unevenly spaced and cracking with age， up through which dust steadily seeped and was swept back each day by Stoners mother.

At school he did his lessons as if they were chores only somewhat less exhausting than those around the farm. When he finished high school in the spring of 1910， he expected to take over more of the work in the fields; it seemed to him that his father grew slower and more weary with the passing months.

But one evening in late spring， after the two men had spent a full day hoeing corn， his father spoke to him in the kitchen， after the supper dishes had been cleared away.

“County agent come by last week.”

William looked up from the red-and-white-checked oilcloth spread smoothly over the round kitchen table. He did not speak.

“Says they have a new school at the University in Columbia. They call it a College of Agriculture. Says he thinks you ought to go. It takes four years.”

“Four years，” William said. “Does it cost money？”

“You could work your room and board，” his father said. “Your ma has a first cousin owns a place just outside Columbia. There would be books and things. I could send you two or three dollars a month.”

作家梁文道在一次訪談中提及“本分做人”的重要性，他說道：“所謂‘本分地做人，意思是說，盡管世界是這個樣子，局面是這個樣子，但是有什么是你力所能及能做到的，還是要做?！睆倪@個意義上來說，《斯通納》可以看成是一部關(guān)于“本分做人”的小說。主人公斯通納的一生，對于他所身處的小環(huán)境和大世界而言，似乎無足輕重，而這個故事的引人入勝之處大概在于，終其一生，斯通納發(fā)掘并培育了自己本分做人的能力，選擇并堅守著自己所能做到的事，詮釋了“本分人生”所特有的珍貴與崇高。

在小說開篇處，作者對斯通納一生的“無足輕重”毫不諱言，用訃告般簡潔總括的方式，道出了斯通納一生的軌跡：1910年，19歲的斯通納進入密蘇里大學求學，并于八年后留校任教，而直到他1956年在大學里去世為止，他的職稱始終沒有升到助理教授以上的級別。從這個“劇透”般不設(shè)懸念的軌跡開始，整部小說依照時間順序展開，呈現(xiàn)出斯通納“本分做人”的一生。

對于出身貧苦農(nóng)家的斯通納而言，“本分做人”的起點是“對困苦、饑餓、忍耐和痛苦的知悉”。正如斯通納在年老時回想起來的那樣：“這是祖輩給予的傳承，而他們過著卑賤、辛苦、堅忍的生活，他們共同的道德信仰就是把自己的臉交給一個嚴苛不公的世界，而那一張張臉毫無表情、鐵硬又荒涼?！痹谶@種世代相傳的認知中，斯通納的父母依照自己的“本分”，在經(jīng)濟拮據(jù)、家中勞力短缺的情況下，將斯通納送入了大學。而當斯通納做出了從農(nóng)學院轉(zhuǎn)到文學院的“任性”決定之后，得知這一消息的父親答復說：“如果你覺得應(yīng)該待在這里，讀你的書，那你就應(yīng)該這樣做?！备改高@種對于“本分人生”的樸素踐行，對斯通納的一生影響深遠。自少年起，斯通納就將勤力用功視為自然，“他在大學做功課完全就像在農(nóng)場干農(nóng)活——全心全意，兢兢業(yè)業(yè)，既談不上愉快也沒有多大的痛苦”。一生中，斯通納都保持著自己年少時被繁重的農(nóng)活塑造出的駝背身形。這種負重前行的姿態(tài)，使他日后在清苦寂寞的歲月中不自覺、不迷惘，在遭遇生活中的阻礙和不幸時不畏強、不消沉，在最終抵達生命終點時不悔恨、不驚慌。從這個角度而言，“本分做人”是有福報的，因為斯通納式的本分之人雖然將苦難視為生活的天然底色，卻也因此憑借堅忍的性格和對信念的堅守，抵御著生命中的虛空和無常。

對于選擇了大學教師為業(yè)的斯通納而言，“本分做人”的奧義是對生命活力的悉心守護。斯通納人生中首次對于這種活力的體驗發(fā)生在文學課上。當他的老師斯隆先生朗讀了莎士比亞的第73首十四行詩后，他問道：“莎士比亞先生穿越三百年在跟你講話，斯通納先生，你聽到了嗎？”而此時的斯通納“感受到血液在無形地穿過纖細的血管和動脈流淌著，從指尖到整個身體微弱又隨意地顫動著”。在斯通納的一生中，這是生命活力被喚醒的奇妙一刻，也是他從麻木忍受生命的重壓轉(zhuǎn)向主動探尋生命激情的轉(zhuǎn)折點。這位農(nóng)學院的學生因此轉(zhuǎn)學到了文學院，尋找到了安身立命之所。他沒有像其他同齡人一樣參軍入伍，而是聽從了導師的建議，將戰(zhàn)爭視為摧毀生命活力、制造野蠻人的災難事件。他結(jié)交朋友，展開戀愛，結(jié)婚生子，遇到紅顏知己。當晚年回首過往的時候，他發(fā)現(xiàn)一生中所有美好的人和事都統(tǒng)一于生命活力這個主題上：在個人層面，這種活力表現(xiàn)為自我意識;在人與人之間，這種活力表現(xiàn)為友誼、激情和愛情;在職業(yè)層面，這種活力表現(xiàn)為對世界的好奇心帶來的樂趣和專注;而在社會層面，這種活力是野蠻人所信奉的“叢林法則”的反面，是建立在同情和愛之上的對文明的信念。這樣的“本分人生”似乎給斯通納帶來了不少麻煩——因為堅持要將弄虛作假者擋在大學的門外，斯通納被意見不合的上司排擠和打壓了二十余年。這樣“本分人生”中無能為力的時刻也很多：斯通納的婚姻很快變成一場災難，他與冷漠的妻子形同路人;女兒幼時與他關(guān)系親密，待女兒長大成人，父女關(guān)系卻漸漸疏遠;他與知己兩情相悅，但迫于外界壓力，他們的婚外戀情最終以分手收場。但這樣“本分做人”是有福報的，因為斯通納式的本分之人調(diào)用意志、才智和心靈的力量，不斷創(chuàng)造和充實著生命的意義，抵御著生命中的無奈和絕望。

在一次訪談中，約翰·威廉斯談起了他筆下的斯通納：“許多讀過小說的人認為斯通納度過了悲傷且糟糕的一生。我卻認為他的一生過得頗為不錯?！背蹩粗拢雇{的一生似乎確實給人“悲傷且糟糕”的印象。然而在與斯通納境遇相似的作者看來，斯通納“本分做人”的一生是幸運且被祝福的。斯通納身處的小環(huán)境和大世界里充滿了吞噬生命的力量，對生活期望不高的父母在隱忍中陷入麻木，對生活期望過于理想化的導師在失望中陷入絕望，反倒是繼承了前兩者“本分生活”遺產(chǎn)的斯通納，憑借他們所饋贈的豁達和柔軟，度過了看似平常、實則珍貴的鮮活一生。而斯通納一生的故事，之所以在小說發(fā)表半個多世紀后依然被人們記起和傳閱，大概是因為雖然各人的成長環(huán)境和天賦特長各異，但是如何在強力橫行、暴亂不息的人世間活出自己的本分，依然是每一個認真生活的人所探求的對象。