Thread by @17cShyteposter

Learning that John Gardner's GRENDEL is a vicious takedown of Sartre makes me understand why I loved it even as a young prog, and already makes even the second page of my reread an order of magnitude funnier than when I first took it in

That's the greatest part of it as art—it's written so that by the end, you *do* pity Grendel. But you also believe the world is made a better place when

~SPOILER ALERT~

Beowulf rips his limbs off and leaves him for dead

https://twitter.com/big_brutha/status/1327178356929011712

This is very similar, dramatically, to how Tolkien treats Gollum

But in Tolkien's realm, where Christianity is still in charge, Gollum is also *physically* weak—an object of pity, but overpowered by mere hobbits, once they understand what they're up against

Gardner writes from both a deeper history AND the understanding of what Sartre represents. He gets that this form of chaos is both very old, was once long-defeated, but is being resurrected as something MONSTROUSLY strong—and requires new Beowulfs to rip it limb-from-limb

To put it another way, Tolkien said: Here are our beliefs and our traditions, and if you hold to them, the King will return to restore peace

George RR Martin then said: lol no, all you say is lies, it was always about power, and this is its bloody and awful result

Yet 20 years before Game of Thrones, Gardner held up a black mirror in Grendel, and said No: this is you + your beliefs: you will rip the thin shreds of civilization apart in the name of your godless justice—and be baffled when something emerges that no longer cares to pity you