John Gardner

So after listening to John Gardner's interview today, I got a pretty good idea of what this guy was all about. Sure he was cocky and arrogant, but I knew where he was coming from and I can understand why he was frustrated with the literary world.

I really liked when he talked about the difference between his type of fiction and everyone else's type of fiction. People during his time did not think that it was necessary for fiction to tell some type of truth or moral: however, Gardner did. He thought that even though fiction stories are not true, does not mean they cannot tell some sort of moral. He resented books that kept the mind from thinking, or 'perfect' books: ones that end perfectly and tie up in a nice little bow. John thought a book was better when it left you thinking and you did not completely understand everything and I agree with him here. I must admit that there are still some things I don't understand about All the King's Men, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and even Beowulf, yet that is what makes those books so interesting. I love going back and reading Harry Potter books and picking up on more facts that I missed the first time. It makes reading so much more interesting.

I also like how Gardner wanted to talk about morals, but not religious and culural morals. He wanted to write about morals that were universally sustaining or deeper than the typical, "be nice to your mother" or "pray to God everyday" kind of morals. Honestly, those morals can get really boring and when I read books that have those types of morals in them, I don't take much away from that book. I leave the book dissapointed, wondering if there is a deeper meaning to life than just 'being a good citizen'. I like that Gardner challenges this and is not afraid to be out there about it. He shows this with his far-fetched book about Grendel. It was so different and out there that at first no one liked it and no one saw what it was worth. I really like the idea of taking the monster out of Beowulf and showing everyone his point of view. I think that would be really cool if they did that with Voldemort from Harry Potter. Maybe a modern day John Grendel will step up to the plate! Hey, you never know!