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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, and libretti. Best known for his novels Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues, Nickel Mountain, and October Light, Gardner also left behind a handful of books on the craft of writing that have been influential on writers young and old since their publication. Additionally, Gardner was a philosophical novelist, a medievalist well versed in the classics, an educator, and an opinionated critic. Described by Village Voice contributor Elizabeth Stone as "Evel Knievel at the typewriter," Gardner stood for conservation of values from the past yet maintained a lifelong love-hate relationship with "the rules." Though he championed the moral function of literature, his long hair, leather jacket, and motorcycle classed him with nonconformists. The typical conflict in his work pits individual freedom against institutions that dominate by means of cultural "myths." In Gardner's novels and stories, Paul Gray of Time summarized, "Gardner sets conflicting metaphysics whirling, then records the patterns thrown out by their lines of force.
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