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Introduction to the novel, Grendel, by John Gardner
Citation preview
John Gardner
[essayist, cartoonist, professor, medievalist, children’s author,
poet, inventor of the Shamwow]
Grendel
1971
Beowulf
Grendel’s POV
• Interior Monologue
• Is a Monster Created or Made?
• Animals vs. Humans
• Existentialism – isolation, an indifferent universe, disheartening existence, unexplainable
• Solipsism – knowledge outside one’s own mind is uncertain; subsequently, the world and others’ minds don’t exist
• Nihilism - all values are baseless; nothing can be known or communicated; extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence
Terms / Concepts – Beowulf & Grendel
Wyrd
Heorot (Herot)
Wergild
Comitatus
(Northern) Germanic Warrior Code
Scop
Beot & Flyting
Lineage
Each chapter …….
The Shaper
(scop) of Man’s constructed and mechanized world.
And if the Babe is born a BoyHe's given to a Woman Old,
Who nails him down upon a rock,Catches his shrieks in cups of gold.
-- William Blake (The Mental Traveller)
Epigraph – prior to the test, you must understand the connection from Blake’s poem
to Gardner’s text
Philosophical Themes
* If the world really is meaningless, how
should I live?--John Gardner on the central
question of Grendel
* Art, Song, Language
* Community
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave – Beautiful analogy to Grendel’s philosophical plight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM
Optical illusions show HOW we seehttp://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_optical_illusions_show_how_we_see?language=en
Philosophical Journey / Quest –Active Read; Close Read with an Eye on Understanding the Multiple Philosophies that Shape Grendel’s World
Songs with Existentialistic themeshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDA708XlFIo
Song with Solipsistic themehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKY-smJ6aBQ
Illuminated Excerpt from Grendelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZkhzPg-Y3I
Q: If you’re not conscious when you’re in a deep sleep or under anesthesia, what does it mean to be conscious when not asleep or under anesthesia?