One situation consistently recurs, . . . an inherited past must defend itself against a plotless future."
Gardner's novels provoked a wide range of critical responses, and, unlike many academic fictions, were appreciated by a large audience. Three of his novels were bestsellers. "Very few writers, of any age, are alchemist enough to capture the respect of the intellectual community and the imagination of others who lately prefer [Jacqueline] Susann and [Judith] Krantz. Based on critical acclaim, and sales volume, it would seem that this man accomplished both," Craig Riley wrote in Best Sellers. Carol A. MacCurdy reported in Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, 1982, "Many critics consider Grendel a modern classic, The Sunlight Dialogues an epic of the 1970s, and October Light [which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1976] a dazzling piece of Americana."
Upstate New York Roots
Gardner was born on July 21, 1933, in Batavia, New York. His parents were both influential in instilling an early love of books in the young Gardner, for his mother, Priscilla Jones Gardner, was an English teacher, and his father, John, was a dairy farmer and lay preacher with a deep and abiding love of both the Bible and Shakespeare.
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