Grendel

Summary: "In Gardner's updating, Grendel becomes a symbol of ultimate nihilism....But this novel is no mere allegory. Its forces are more flesh than metaphysics, and 'Grendel' is a tale full of action, observation, poetry, and strange to say humor. Grendel possesses, for all his negativism, a sort of Holden Caulfield charm....The world, Mr. Gardner seems to be suggesting, in his violent, inspiring, awesome, terrifying narra...tive, has to defeat its Grendels, yet somehow, he hints, both ecologically and in deeper ways, that world is a poorer place when men and their monsters cannot coexist." [read more]