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From: ccc@bu-cs.UUCP (Cameron Carson)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Grendel
Message-ID: <393@bu-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-May-85 13:39:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.393
Posted: Mon May 13 13:39:25 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 16-May-85 03:45:43 EDT
References: <368@linus.UUCP>
Organization: Boston Univ Comp. Sci.
Lines: 32


>>I've been an enthusiast of epic verse since reading Beowulf way back when, 
>>and I'm eager to read Tolkien's efforts.   
>Anyone who has read Beowulf would probably be interested in reading 
>_Grendel_ by John Gardner.  (I think.)  It's the whole story from the
>monster's point of view, and I found it far more entertaining than
>the original, possibly because the style of the latter was so wooden.

I read _Grendel_ as a junior in high school at the recommendation of
an english teacher and enjoyed it for its entertaining perspective. 
However, upon re-reading it in college several years later, I received 
the impression that the author's intent was not that of storytelling,
but rather that of social comment. The Beowulf saga is portrayed inter-
estingly enough, but the monster embarks on several monologues and
"dialogues" with non-speaking creatures, the subject and style of which
seemed to me to be too modern for the setting and too distant from the
narrative to serve a storytelling purpose.  However, they do allow Grendel,
an outsider as far as humanity is concerned, to make several observations
on the "human condition."

Caution: this most recent reading took place several years ago, and this
writing is based on impressions left over from that reading, which could
conceivably change by reading it once again.


-- 
Cameron C. Carson
Distributed Systems Group
Boston University ACC

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