Grendel, by John Gardner

[Steerpike]

I thought I'd read this, since it is one of the more highly-acclaimed works of fantasy.

One passage near the beginning struck me, as Grendel is railing against the universe and his place in it:

The tender grasses peek up, innocent yellow, through the ground: the children of the dead. (It was just here, this shocking green, that once when the moon was tombed in clouds, I tore off sly old Athelgard's head. Here, where the startling tiny jaws of crocuses snap at the late-winter sun like the heads of baby watersnakes, here I killed the old woman with the irongray hair. She tasted of urine and spleen, which made me spit. Sweet mulch for yellow blooms. Such are the tiresome memories of a shadow-shooter, earth-rim-roamer, walker of the world's weird wall).

If Gardner keeps that up I suspect I'll be quite pleased with the book.

Gardner also wrote one of the most well-regarded books on writing. I haven't read it, though I've seen it cited numerous times.

Has anyone else read this book? If so, what did you think?

 

[Ankari]

That is a fantastic passage. Now I'm hooked. I'll buy it today.

 

[Steerpike]

Yeah, it is a great passage. I'm looking forward to getting into more of it. Phil says his book on writing is also very good.

 

[Scribble]

That fellow is painting with words, and not just pretty pictures. I'll read that.

 

[Philip Overby]

Yeah, I'd like to elaborate more about what I mentioned in the chat.

The book on writing Gardner wrote was very good for me and there are tons of things I pulled from it when I was younger. It starts off talking about his teacher/student relationship with Raymond Carver. I recall it being a rather bold and honest book. He doesn't make becoming a novelist sound easy. He describes a lot of the pitfalls of doing this kind of work and it's not for everyone.

I don't think this book is really for people who want a quick fix way of "getting published in 30 days" or anything like that. It's not that kind of book. But I remember it resonating with me the same way King's writing book did.

About Grendel, I remember the book also being one of the first where I felt sympathy for a monster. Beowulf comes off as ruthless murderer to me whereas he's often regarded as one of the greatest heroes in all of fiction. Definitely a well-written book and due to its place in literary fiction, may often get disregarded as one of the best fantasy books ever written. Because "fantasy" means "genre" and "genre" means "bad."

I remember it being rather gruesome in parts, so it's not for the weak of heart.

 

[Ankari]

So I picked up one of his books on writing instead. I must say, I'm rather impressed. I've read the first chapter and mentally chuckled between each page. The guy would break the heart of anyone ahderong to the notion of "rules of writing".

Oddly, I also felt he would break the hearts of anyone championing the insistence of a diverse cast if the story didn't call for it. He calls such constrictions, or forced parameters, "aesthetic arthritis".

 

[Philip Overby]

Which book did you get, Ankari?

I agree, that Gardener isn't for the thin-skinned type of writer. He breaks truth over your head in ways some may not want to deal with.

For me, I can tell when someone is including a diverse cast just to satisfy as wide of a readership as possible and when someone is doing it to fit into their personal story. I would hope most would include a diverse cast because they want to.

 

[Ankari]

The Art of Fiction

 

[Philip Overby]

I haven't read that one. I'll have to check it out sometime. I recommend On Becoming a Novelist as well.

 

[Stevenmlong]

Grendel is a great book, and Gardner's books on writing are quite good, too (though I haven't read them in a long time). I remember reading about Gardner going into his to-be agent's office with boxes of manuscripts free-handed on yellow paper. A very different time.