GRENDEL By: John Gardner

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Author and professor John Gardner taught Beowulf to college students. He had taught the epic for years before publishing Grendel in Gardner wanted his novel to serve as commentary on Anglo Saxon culture and also on the general human condition. Gardner died in 1982 due to a motorcycle accident.

CHAPTER ONE The story begins in the 12 th year of Grendel’s destruction. Grendel is intelligent and speaks English. He lives with his non-speaking mother who is simply a “monster” among many other monsters and snakes. When Grendel is not terrorizing humans, he’s sitting back secretly watching them.

CHAPTER TWO Through flashback, the chapter shows that Grendel leaves his home of monsters to venture among humans. Grendel discovers that humans speak his language. Grendel’s mother saves him from a dangerous encounter with a group of men. Grendel feels alone among both the humans he quietly watches and the other monsters in his swamp.

CHAPTER THREE Grendel secretly watches Hrothgar’s corrupt rise to power. Humans threaten, kill, and abuse each other; they are no better than Grendel. A Shaper (performing storyteller) sings the history of Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel thinks the stories are beautiful even though they are lies.