Grendel is a 1971 fantasy novel by American author John Gardner. This postmodern narrative takes the antagonist of the Old English poem Beowulf and turns him into the narrator and antihero in this work. Grendel, as the novel’s protagonist, contemplates philosophy, including the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre, as he makes various journeys and faces many battles. Themes explored in the novel include literature and myth, good and evil, and the importance of art.
Grendel
by John Gardner
Born in Batavia, New York, in 1933, John Gardner suffered lifelong guilt over a fatal tractor accident that killed his younger brother in 1945; the 11-year-old John was at t...
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John Champlin Gardner, Jr., novelist, epic poet, and scholar, was born in Batavia, New York, on 21 July 1933 to John Champlin and Priscilla Jones Gardner. As a boy he lived in Batavia, attended the lo...
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A vastly prolific author of thirty-five books in a career spanning only twenty-five years, John Gardner penned novels, criticism, short stories, works for young readers, a biography of Chaucer, plays,...
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Creation as an Affirmation of Renewal
Man has always been driven to create. We constantly shape the world around us by inventing stories of heroes and monsters, by crafting complex but passionate i...
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Did John Gardener portray Grendel as a chauvinist pig in the book "Grendel"? Many people feel that John portrayed him in the form of a Dark and Mysterious beast like person who treated women as if the...
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The archeologist's eyes combine the view of the telescope and the view of the microscope. He reconstructs the very distant with the help of the very small. -Thornton Wilder
These words, voiced by T...
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Grendel
Chapter 1, page 8.
Grendel:
"So it goes with me day by day and age by age, I tell myself. Locked in the deadly progression of moon and stars... (Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words,...
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Grendel Book Notes is a free study guide on Grendel by John Gardner. Browse the summary below:
Author Biography / Context of the Work
One-Page Plot Summary
Character Descrip...
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Grendel
John (Champlin) Gardner, Jr.
John Gardner
Grendel