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John Gardner’s grendel. Essential Understandings. Written in 1971 by John Gardner, American novelist, essayist, literary critic and university professor Grendel is a parallel novel Also considered a philosophical novel (e.g., existentialism, solipsism, nihilism, etc.)
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Essential Understandings • Written in 1971 by John Gardner, American novelist, essayist, literary critic and university professor • Grendel is a parallel novel • Also considered a philosophical novel (e.g., existentialism, solipsism, nihilism, etc.) • Each chapter focuses on a different astrological sign.
Existentialism • Characterized by a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. • “’The world is all pointless accident” (Gardner 28). • “One of the horses neighed and reared up, and for some crazy reason they took it for a sign” (27).
Solipism • from Latin solus, meaning "alone", and ipse, meaning "self“ • the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. • “I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against…” (Gardner 22).
Nihilism • from the Latin nihil, nothing • Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism, which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. • The belief that traditional morals, ideas, beliefs, etc., have no worth or value • “I tried to tell her all that had happened, all that I’d come to understand: the meaningless objectness of the world, the universal bruteness” (Gardner 28).
The Taurus • Taurus, the Bull. Taurus is determined, efficient, stubborn, cautious, placid, persistent, enduring, introverted, conservative, conventional, materialistic, security conscious, stable, industrious, dependable, and one generally having significant financial ability. • In what ways do we see this zodiac sign represented in chapter 2? • What is the significance of these depictions?
John Gardner does not want you to have an existential crisis • “So one reader of Grendel will get only this much: that what we value so may not be lasting. Another reader may get much, much more...What matters is that I work out the problems with absolute honesty, that I make Grendel sympathetic so that the reader will feel frominside the importance of the question, What should I do? If the reader decides, as all three papers here decide, that I am advising people to live like Grendel and give up values, then the reader is wrong but I have done no harm, because the reader will see--in spite of his slight misreading--that somehow it's not good giving up values (which is exactly what I say). We all know that love sometimes dies, that people who at one time love each other truly and deeply may at another time stop loving each other. But as John Barth beautifully points out in Chimera, that is no reason for people to stop trying to love each other all their lives. In other words (as both Barth and I have been saying in books) we don't need eternal values to assert and try to live up to eternal values.”
Open Response Prompt • In the following passage, analyze the function of point of view in John Gardner’s Grendel. Using evidence from the text, explain how Grendel’s perspective affects or complicates the reader’s understanding of the epic poem, Beowulf. (Hint: Why does John Gardner choose to write from Grendel’s point of view and what does this narrative offer us? Consider Gardner’s narration and characterization of Grendel.)
