John C. Gardner

John Champlin Gardner, Jr., American novelist, was born in Batavia, New York on July 21, 1933. http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/john.gardner.asp#biography He wrote a total of 35 books, including several best selling novels such as award winning October Light, Grendel, and The Sunlight Dialogues. In addition to contemporary fiction, he wrote children's books, plays, translations of epic works, a biography of Chaucer, and a few influential books on the craft of writing. http://www.bookrags.com/biography/john-gardner-aya/ He was a scholar of Medieval literature, a teacher, and a literary critic.http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1691510

On September 14,1982 Gardner was killed when he lost control of his vintage Harley Davidson motorcycle near Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He is considered a maverick of his field, having defied the expectations of his contemporaries, and attaining success despite.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301122.html Numerous posthumous biographies and critical examinations of his work have been written. And his novel Grendel was adapted for the Los Angeles Opera in 1996 by Emmy and Tony Award winner Julie Taymor.

Before making a name for himself in the literary world, Gardner has published two novels, The Resurrection (1966) and The Wreckage of Agathon (1970). http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225924/John-GardnerIt was the publication of his best selling novel Grendel that brought his name to top of critics' lists. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301122.html Grendel is a re-telling of the Beowulf story through the eyes of the antagonist, the monster Grendel.

Gardner followed Grendel with critical successes The Sunlight Dialogues (1972) and Nickel Mountain (1973). And in 1976 he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his novel October Light, which tells the disparate stories of a feuding brother and sister living together in Vermont and of drug dealers and abuser in southern California.http://www.librarything.com/work/2446020

With his long hair and leather jacket, Gardner was often thought of as a rebel in the literary world. Even after his success, Gardner wanted to assert his differences, and in 1978 published On Moral Fiction, a work critical of many of his peers. In the book, he derides such names as Philip Roth, Norman Mailer, and Kurt Vonnegut. His view was that their work wasn't just bad but dangerous.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301122.html

Throughout his writing career, Gardner continued to teach. He taught at Oberln College in Ohio, Bennington College in Vermont, University of Rochester in New York, and was at State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton at the time of his death in 1982.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225924/John-Gardner http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Gardner__John.html

"I clamped my palms to my ears and stretched up my lips and shrieked again: a stab at truth, a snatch at apocalyptic glee." - Grendel from Grendel

"Pick an apocalypse, any apocalypse. A sea of black oil and dead things. No wind. No light. Nothing stirring, not even an ant, a spider. A silent universe. Such is the end of the flicker of time, the brief hot fuse of events and ideas set off, accidentally, and snuffed out, accidentally, by man. Not a real ending of course, nor even a beginning. Mere ripple in Time's stream." - Grendel from Grendel

"If you think I created that wall that cracked my head, you're a fucking lunatic." - Grendel from Grendel

"Poor Grendel's had an accident. So may you all." - Grendel from Grendel

1. The Old Men - Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1959

2. The Resurrection - New York: New American Library, 1966

3. The Wreckage of Agathon - New York: Harper and Row, 1970

4. Grendel - New York: Knopf, 1971

5. The Sunlight Dialogues - New York: Knopf, 1972

6. Jason and Medeia - New York: Knopf, 1973

7. Nickel Mountain: A Pastoral Novel - New York: Knopf, 1973

8. The King's Indian: Stories and Tales - New York: Knopf, 1974

9. October Light - New York: Knopf, 1976

10. Poems - Northridge, Calif.: Lord John Press

11. Vlemk the Box-Painter - Northridge Calif., Lord John P, 1979

12. Freddy's Book - New York: Knopf, 1980

13. The Art of Living and Other Stories - New York: Knopf, 198

14. Mickelsson's Ghosts - New York: Knopf, 1982

15. Stillness and Shadows, Ed. Nicholas Delbanco - New York: Knopf, 1986