Grendel

By John Gardner

Grendel: The Novel

• Book was published in 1971. It was book of the year for both Time and Newsweek.
• The author, John Gardner, was a professor of English who specialized in Medieval Literature.
• He had taught Beowulf for many years, which is the original source and inspiration for this novel.
• In Beowulf, Grendel is a minor character. He is a monster that symbolizes “darkness, chaos and death.”

John Gardner

• As a boy, John Gardner Jr., learned about the realities of death on his family farm: he ran over his six-year-old brother with a cultipacker and killed him. That accident shaped his life for decades to come.
• He had a “middle-age preoccupation with death 

​

The Paris Review

Gardner

• Although it’s unclear whether he was diagnosed as such, he certainly seems to have suffered from some kind of depression.
• He was known for bitter and public fights with other contemporary writers, “and many [people]remember him as arrogant.
• The book was written during the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War.

Grendel: The Novel

• In this novel, Grendel becomes a three dimensional round character with “a sense of humor and a gift for language.” Critic J. Howell
• Grendel is a “would be artist with a weakness for poetry.” (Howell)
• It is through his art that Grendel “attempts to escape his baseness.”
• Theme Option 1: Art is so powerful that even a monster is affected by its beauty.

The Inspiration and Source

• Grendel is a retelling of Beowulf. Only this time the monster is telling the story.
• So we can read the original:

​

Beowulf

by Anonymous

​

PRELUDE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE DANISH HOUSE

​

LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings

of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,

we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!

Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,

from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,

awing the earls. Since erst he lay

friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:

for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,

till before him the folk, both far and near,

who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,

gave him gifts: a good king he!

To him an heir was afterward born,

a son in his halls, whom heaven sent

to favor the folk, feeling their woe

that erst they had lacked an earl for leader

so long a while; the Lord endowed him,

the Wielder of Wonder, with world's renown.

Famed was this Beowulf: far flew the boast of him,

son of Scyld, in the Scandian lands.

So becomes it a youth to quit him well

with his father's friends, by fee and gift,

that to aid him, aged, in after days,

come warriors willing, should war draw nigh,

liegemen loyal: by lauded deeds

shall an earl have honor in every clan.

It’s 176 pages.

Or You Can Listen to Me and Take Notes

• The author of Grendel assumes your knowledge of the original poem.
• Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon Poem. It is the oldest long poem in English history.
• The author is anonymous. He/she is referred to in writing as “the Beowulf poet.”
• Setting: 500 BC in Danes

The Plot of Beowulf

• King Hrothgar, the ruler of Danes, is troubled by a demon named Grendel.
• Each night, Grendel attacks the king’s local “mead hall” (that’s a bar) and kills warriors and eats them.

​

The Plot of Beowulf

• King Hrothgar is an old warrior, so he can not protect his people, so Beowulf comes to help.
• Beowulf is waiting the next time that Grendel attacks.
• He wants to fight Grendel hand to hand.

The Plot of Beowulf

• Beowulf wrestles with Grendel and rips off his arm.
• Grendel flies off and dies.

The Plot of Beowulf

• The King and the warriors have a party to celebrate.
• But Grendel’s mother is pissed off about her son’s death, so she attacks them as they are sleeping off the party.

The Plot of Beowulf

• The warriors awake, and she flees to her lair (an underground cave below a lake).
• Beowulf dives into the lake, finds her lair and slays Grendel’s mother.
• He returns with Grendel’s severed head.
• The party continues.

The Plot of Beowulf

• Beowulf returns to his land and reigns as king for 50 years.
• And then his land is being attacked by a dragon.
• Beowulf and 11 warriors attack it, but when they see the beast, all but one and Beowulf flee.

​

The Plot of Beowulf

• The two, one warrior and Beowulf, defeat the dragon, but Beowulf dies.

​

OK. Now for reading Grendel

• It is not chronological.
• Look for flashbacks, foreshadowing and allusions.
• Theme Subjects:
• Art and society
• Language and Meaning
• Morality and Immorality
• Mortality and Meaning

Art and Society

• The power of Art is so powerful that even a monster is affected by its beauty. It is able to inspire and shape history.

Language and Meaning

• Common language binds society and allows humans to exchange ideas and prevents isolation. It breaks down barriers and gives meaning to an otherwise meaningless universe.

Morality versus Immorality

• What is viewed as moral and civilized by society should be questioned and open to protests. This questioning often leads to distrust of political and social norms.

Mortality

• People desire to make a meaning of life by noting experiences and differing outlooks as time progresses. Grendel explores a variety of philosophies in order to find that meaning.

Literary Allusion:

• Philosophical Survey
• Survey the main ideas of Western Civilization
• 12 Chapters, 12 major philosophical movements
• Gardner’s use of Zodiac signs
• “It’s got twelve chapters. They’re all hooked up to astrological signs…..” (Gardner)
• Each chapter has aspects of a Zodiac sign.

​