6/24/2023 0 Comments Grendel by john gardner is written![]() ![]() it isn't just a retelling, it isn't an apology or explanation - it does smooth out the rough warrior edges of beowulf (the work, not the character) and gives great powers of articulation to grendel with his almost genteel existential worldview, but there are subterranean caverns of philosophy tucked away in here. ![]() and this book was where i first realized this.what i love about this book, beyond just the gorgeous simplicity of gardner's prose (and, for some reason, the font) are its hidden depths. but at its core, it is of course infantile and selfish. and when you work retail, the surface of that statement rings true every single day. "l'enfer c'est les autres".it just sounds so good, doesn't it? and not just because it is french and therefore inherently sexified.but it sounds so romantically world-weary and byronesque. when i was a young lass with my fontanelle as yet unfused when i still liked the doors and books about manson, i dabbled briefly and emotionally in existentialism. if not - this could ruin everything! but it won't. i assume that most bookish people are familiar with the basic plot elements of beowulf, either through high school required reading or that video-game-looking movie, or cocktails at the heaney's. This review may or may not contain spoilers. ![]()
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