Grendel

1
Grendel

• By John Gardner

2
About the Novel Grendel

• Genre
• Postmodern
• prose poem
• Bildungsroman growth of the protagonist
• Published 1971
• By John Gardner

3
Elements of Fiction

• Point of view 1st person through the character
  of Grendel
• Occasionally he narrates through the point of
  view of another character
• Setting 4th century, Denmark
• Characters Grendel, Grendels Mother, Beowulf,
  King Hrothgar, Dragon, Shaper

4
Conflict

• Conflict
• Internal Grendel struggles, within his own mind,
  to understand his place in a potentially
  meaningless world
• External man vs. man Grendel fights with Danes
  and Beowulf

5
Theme

• Theme Universal idea, central message, or
  insight into life presented by a literary work
• 1.  Art as falsehood
• The incompatibility of reason and emotion
• The power of stories
• The pain of isolation
• Search for Truth/Purpose

6
Motifs

• Motifs a repeated image or idea in a work of
  literature that helps develop the themes
• The seasons
• Zodiac
• Machinery

7
Symbols

• Symbols something that represents something
  else, especially an object representing an
  abstraction
• The bull
• The corpse
• Hart

8
Extra-Credit

• Question From whose point of view is this novel
  told?
• Answer Grendels

9
Exit Slip

• On a separate sheet of paper please answer the
  following
• How will this novel be similar to the epic
  Beowulf?
• How will this novel be different from the epic
  Beowulf?