The Life and Times of John Gardner

John C. Gardner was a poet, novelist, dramatist, translator, and teacher who died in 1982. Gardner was raised in New York state and  attended school through 11th grade. He wrote numerous novels, plays, transliterations of medieval texts, he also wrote three influential works on the art of writing including On Becoming a Novelist, The Art of Fiction, and On Moral Fiction. Many of his students, such as Raymond Carver and Charles Johnson became very successful writers. Additionally, he wrote children's stories such as "Dragon, Dragon" (possibly have anything to do with the dragon in chapter 5 of Grendel??? just a thought!) plays and "Days of Vengeance" and  composed operas, and paintings, and played the French horn (having studied music at the Eastman School of Music). As a youth, he attended public school and worked on his father's farm, where, in April 1945, his younger brother Gilbert was killed in an accident with a tractor. Gardner, who was driving the tractor felt enormous guilt for his brother's death. his deep guilt over this affair is speculated to have spurred the influence in some of his works. I think that the existentialism in Grendel could be a result of this. The strong bond between two brothers defines their period of growing up together during childhood. Thus, when a part of this bond is lost especially on account of the other, there could be a loss of identity. This parallels to the "I am nothing" ideal of existentialist thinkers. Gardner possibly felt that he did not deserve to live a life of meaning when he felt responsible for taking that of his own brother.In his short story "Redemption" written in 1977, Gardner reflects on this traumatic experience through a fictional account. Gardner is most acclaimed and well known for his novel Grendel which retells the Beowulf epic from the monster's point of view. In 1978, Gardner's book of literary criticism, On Moral Fiction, caused great controversy in the writer community. He criticizes other authors take on fiction. Some of these authors had praised Gardner for his own work. In Grendel, there are many isolated and strong willed characters. Each character represents a distinct point of view that the main antagonist (as I perceive him to be) struggles to comprehend and decide which he agrees with. John Gardner's life ended tragically in an accident on his motorcycle. in 1982 he passed away in Pennsylvania.  From reading a biography I was able to discover that he was lay to rest next to his younger brother which really touched me.Hopefully this put any guilt he may have had over the incident even in adulthood at rest.