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| Grendel | 
 enlarge | Author: John Gardner
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $11.95
Buy Used: $0.74
You Save: $11.21 (94%)
New (64) Used (148) Collectible (4) from $0.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  162 reviews
Sales Rank: 5251
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5
ISBN: 0679723110
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780679723110
ASIN: 0679723110
Publication Date: May 14, 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 1972 Ballantine paperback. Shelf wear.
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Amazon.com Review
Grendel is a beautiful and heartbreaking modern retelling of the Beowulf epic from the point of view of the monster, Grendel, the villain of the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon epic. This book benefits from both of Gardner's careers: in addition to his work as a novelist, Gardner was a noted professor of medieval literature and a scholar of ancient languages.
Product Description
The first and most terrifying monster in English literature, from the great early epic BEOWULF, tells his side of the story.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 157 more reviews...
 View the old epic from the monster's point of view April 22, 2003
75 out of 82 found this review helpful
What if you could see into the mind of Grendel, the terrifying creature of the night from Beowulf? Well, with this book by John Gardner, you can. Brutal at times, irreverent at others, and very cynical at others, Grendel wanders around for many years watching the development of the various human tribes and the emergence of Hrothgar as a sort of king among them. He spends twelve years in a unique relationship with the king, trying first to make friends with the Danes (he is attacked) and later making raids and killing the most drunken of Hrothgarys thanes. The notorious coward Unferth (the one who later insults Beowulf) is also developed here--Grendel has such contempt and pity for Unferth that he will not kill him (thus giving him a heroys death) despite Unferthys repeated attempts to fight him.
In the poem Beowulf, Grendel is a very flat character. He is, in fact, the epitome of evil, unfeeling and cruel. He comes, he kills and eats people, he leaves. Then he comes back. This book gives Grendel a personality. He knows he is a member of the fallen (Cainys) race, and accepts that fact. He is lonely, and cannot even get companionship from his mother, who has long ceased to communicate. In fact, his only real yfriendsy are the Danes he kills. Still, he knows he is dependent on Hrothgarys survival. yIf I murdered the last of the Scyldings,y he muses, ywhat would I live for?y
This book gives excellent insight into the character of Grendel, and will definitely change the way you look at the poem Beowulf. Gardnerys Grendel is a creature who determines to kill Beowulf for the honor of Hrothgar, so that his thanes will not have been outdone by a newcomer. I highly recommend this short work for anyone interested in the great old English epic.
One of the best ever February 15, 2006
28 out of 28 found this review helpful
In my opinion, one of the best novels ever written. Rich with cryptic meanings and motifs, Gardner wrote a modern masterpiece. The first chapter is hard to get through, but the rest moves more quickly. Two readings may be necessary to get the full appreciation of the details and symbolism. Also, Gardner leaves the reader with so many questions, that a referral to Sparknotes is also recommended.
Grendel is from the ilk of Hugo's the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Merry Shelly's Frankenstein and Vonnegut's Slapstick. Grendel is a monster rejected by humans, yet intensely fascinated by the human race. Raised alone in the wild, he views the animals around him as mechanical and routine. He develops the philosophy that life is essentially a mechanical chaos. However, humans, despite their brutal savage past, are able to make new patterns and create a civilization. With the aid of a bard (shaper), the humans can promote the good (heroism, altruism, love, beauty), while downplaying their savage past and the ambiguities of life, thereby giving life its meaning.
Through Grendel's voyeuristic narration, Gardner investigates several philosophies (nihilism, anarchism, paganism, Judeo-Christian) and tries to answer the existential question "given a world with no inherent meaning, how should one live his or her life?" Grendel's perspective as an outsider rejected by society is, paradoxically, an ingeniously insightful manner to investigate what it is to be human.
"Find a pile of gold and sit on it." March 25, 2001
26 out of 37 found this review helpful
The late John Gardner was a most talented writer, filled with contradictions. He railed against the likes of Pynchon and Barth for their "excesses", while praising the more conservative style of Fowles, and yet probably his own best stuff was his adventurous experiments, such as OCTOBER LIGHT. GRENDEL, the best book ever written about existentialism, is supposed to be a devestating critique of that philosophy. Instead, the compelling tenacity of the existential view guarantees that Gardner will not soon disappear from university bookstores. Certainly one of my favorites.
Grendel by John Gardner The Monster's veiwpoint February 28, 2000
25 out of 30 found this review helpful
Grendel, a historical literary figure. John Gardner has created a powerful human piece from the monster's point of view. Grendel is the evil monster slayed by Beowulf. But in John Gardner's book, Grendel is the protagonist and the reader sees the story from his eyes. The monster is tormented by what he does to the people, but at the same time loves the delicious killing. It's what he has to do. He watches the Danes, speculates, kills and mames, but I think at the same time, he loves them. They give him purpose. Of course Grendel is a story about the powerful forces of light and dark within ourselves and finding meaning in life. Is there a higher power protecting the world? The monster endures great lonliness. He is an outcast. That is his role. He inflicts great pain and suffers pain. Grendel is more poetry than prose. The language captures the senses. Even when one is not always clear on the meaning, it is worth the read (and more than once).
The Anti-Hero Struggles Against the Nihilistic Void April 12, 2000
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
Marvelous. Written almost 30 years ago, Grendel by John Gardner has lost none of its nihilistic punch. Exposed to the novel half of those 30 years ago I had to experience it again after reading the critically lauded Seamus Heaney version of Beowulf. Greeting me once more were meditations on the dark existential void, religion, politics, and science by a creature, not too unlike us in our fears and hopes, who continued to strive to make sense of the universe and his place in it. Alternating between the sublime Orwellian double-talk of the minstrel Shaper and the cold, condescendingly bleak philosophy of the Dragon, Grendel struggles for meaning. Told that his life and energies exist only for man to define himself against, he finds small consolation. Still, Grendel throws himself on the mercy of the men in a Frankenstein's monster effort to be accepted... to no avail, deciding after that `why should I not' destroy them . At times darkly humourous, and touching, the creature muses on the beauty of Hrothgar's placid, sacrificing wife before attempting to kill her, and plays with the fallen hero Unferth before Beowulf's arrival. As those familiar with the epic know, Beowulf in the original poem arrives from across the sea to save Hrothgar's hall by doing battle with Grendel, his mother, and eventually the Dragon. Grendel senses Beowulf's arrival and marvels at the concept of fear. Familiarity with the story makes the inevitability of the conflict all the more delicious when Grendel finally realizes his purpose and observes `I cannot believe such monstrous energy of grief would lead to nothing' the reader is left to answer that it did not lead to nothing, it was a necessary component in an incredible story, told from the historical antagonist's point of view. Highly recommended to be read along with Beowulf.
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