The Unredemption

Grendel by John Champlin Gardner Jr.

My rating: 1 of 5 stars A monster tries his hand at philosophy. He doesn't remember how he learned to speak the language of the Danes, but he also seems to have read Nietzsche and knows some Latin. There's a reference to the "will to power" and he says "nihil ex nihilo." So this is really John Gardner deconstructing Beowulf. Tell it from the monster's perspective and turn the world on its head. "Sympathy for the Devil." The monster is capable of intelligence and admiring the beauty of the queen, but there's nobody to redeem him. He is shunned by humans who fear his ugliness and strength, the dragon gives him a crash course in nihilism, and the only person who cares for him is his drooling mother. So what's a monster to do but amuse himself with slaughter and mock the humans who try to construct meaning out of "copulating dust." Grendel speaks of a wickedness inside him and being born of a cursed race but rejects the gods and ridicules the Shaper's songs for masking reality with a smile. Where does Grendel come up with wickedness and the idea of a curse if there's no such thing as Good and Blessing? The problem with this tale is that Gardner arouses sympathy for Grendel by telling the story from his point of view, but Grendel's actions are objectively evil. The Bible does not encourage us to feel sympathy for evil, but to try to redeem it while also calling out for justice. The original Beowulf story was Christianized by a monk and passed on to us. But those who refuse Christianity rewind the tape and undo the redemption, like with the recent movie. The priests in the story are fools though Grendel spares a sincere one. It is the anti Till We Have Faces. In the end, Grendel calls his death at the hands of Beowulf an accident and wishes an accident on all those "evil" creatures who come out to watch him die. But there's nothing accidental about Gardner's tale. He's out to de-convert the world. View all my reviews >>