Grendel, written by John Gardner, was a novel that sort of acted as a sequel to Beowulf. A book that I previously spoke about, in which I talked about how it didn’t really strike my fancy.
What set this story different from Beowulf was the direction it took. It focused on Grendel and his mindset leading up to his demise. This is a really great novel. I picked it up for class expecting something like Beowulf but sure enough, I was wrong.
In Grendel, our main character is a confused naive beast who has the mind of a human. He questions “Why are we here?” throughout the whole novel (Gardner, 10). Yet he tries to find the answer through rational means.
I personally like how philosophical he is in this book. I myself find philosophy quite intriguing. Seeing Grendel adopting many philosophies was such an interesting concept to see. What I love most about this novel was seeing how naive Grendel was. He adopted many philosophies such as solipsism and expected the answer to come his way. Solipsism is a childish concept in itself but it was just baffling to see Grendel think he was the only person who “existed”.
Another thing to mention was how great this novel was written. Throughout this novel, Grendel was searching for an answer to why he was where he is. As he went on through life he grew as a (whatever he is), leading up to him finally finding what he wanted. An answer.
However, as much as he wanted an answer the answer was his death. His purpose was to be killed by Beowulf. To progress the story, not his story but Beowulf’s story. It was so clever how well it ties up Grendel’s philosophical questions into this novel.
In Conclusion
Grendel was great. It made me laugh. It kept me intrigued. Best of all, it got me to think. That’s what I want most when I read books. I don’t just want to pick up a Dr. Seuss book and read about red and blue fishes. I want to read some horrific novel that makes me contemplate what I’m doing with my life. All jokes aside, this novel did get me thinking. It got me humanizing Grendel. Was Grendel wrong for all this? Probably.
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Citation
Gardner, John Champlin. Grendel: Vintage Books, 1989.
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