Grendel by John Gardner

Grendel lives in a dark and gruesome underground cave with his mother and dozens of cold, unmoving creatures. He is very curious and, in his early years, finds a way to escape this terrible place and enter the world. Every night he wanders outside his cave, exploring the land around him. One night, he gets trapped in a tree. A band of human beings led by King Hrothgar approaches and, after some hesitation, attacks Grendel. They close in for the kill, but Grendel’s mother arrives just in time to save him.

Years after his encounter with Grendel, Hrothgar’s power and influence grow until he rules an immense territory. He builds a glorious meadhall, the greatest in the land, and names it Herot. He builds roads to connect his kingdom and hires an immensely gifted Harper to play at special occasions. Grendel is fascinated by the Harper’s music and tries to join the humans, but he is attacked by the frightened guards and must flee

On June 6, 1953, he married his second cousin, Joan Louise Patterson, with whom he would later produce several novels. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1955 and enrolled in the creative writing program at Iowa University. A restless scholar, he quickly grew tired of excessively tedious writing workshops and decided to work independently with fellow writers Calvin Kentfield, Robert O. Bowen, Vance Bourjaily, and Marguerite Young. He was awarded an M.A. for an acclaimed thesis titled "Four Short Stories." While working on his doctorate, he began to work regularly in medieval studies and Anglo-Saxon literature. The idea for Grendel grew out of this research. His restless scholarship won him an assistant professorship in medieval studies at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University).

For the next few years, Gardner published several scholarly texts on early English literature, including a thousand-page study of Geoffrey Chaucer. On June 22, 1966, Gardner published his first novel, The Resurrection. The book received little notice, and for the next three years, Gardner worked on various manuscripts. In 1969, he began work on Grendel. By April of 1970, the novel was complete and, by September of the next year, it was published. Grendel brought Gardner instant national recognition. He went on to publish over a dozen novels, but none was as well received as Grendel. In 1980, Gardner divorced Joan and married Liz Rosenberg. In 1982, he divorced Liz

Some topics in this essay:
Grendel Hrothgar’s, Red Horse, , Grendel April, Budd Welsh, Weakened Grendel’s, Short Stories, Chaucer June, Iowa University, King Hrothgar, gardner published, batavia york, notice gardner, san francisco, medieval studies, little notice gardner, john champlin, little notice,