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John Champlin Gardner Jr.
author profile
born
July 21, 1933
died
September 14, 1982
gender
male
place of birth
Batavia, New York, The United States
website
genre
Literature & Fiction
influences
Chaucer
about this author
John Champlin Gardner, Jr. was a well-known and controversial American novelist and university professor, best known for his novel Grendel, a retelling of the Beowulf myth.
Gardner was born in Batavia, New York. His father was a lay preacher and dairy farmer, and his mother taught English at a local school. Both parents were fond of Shakespeare and often recited literature together. As a child, Gardner attended public school and worked on his father's farm, where, in April of 1945, his younger brother Gilbert was killed in an accident with a cultipacker. Gardner, who was driving the tractor during the fatal accident, carried guilt for his brother's death throughout his life, suffering nightmares and flashbacks. The incident infor...more
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avg rating: 3.77
| 6,435 ratings
| 686 reviews
| 44 distinct works
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8 fans
More books by John Champlin Gardner Jr.…
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Grendel by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.71 — 3,985 ratings — published 1971 24 editions |
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The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.96 — 603 ratings — published 1984 4 editions |
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On Becoming a Novelist by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.98 — 338 ratings — published 1983 4 editions |
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October Light by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.97 — 159 ratings — published 1976 6 editions |
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The Sunlight Dialogues by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 4.02 — 125 ratings — published 1972 12 editions |
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Nickel Mountain by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.81 — 121 ratings — published 1963 8 editions |
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On Moral Fiction (A Harper Torchbook- TB 5069) by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.86 — 110 ratings — published 1978 3 editions |
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Freddy's Book by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.79 — 78 ratings — published 1980 4 editions |
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Mickelsson's Ghosts by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.91 — 68 ratings — published 1982 5 editions |
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In the Suicide Mountains by John Champlin Gardner Jr. avg rating 3.93 — 44 ratings — published 1977 2 editions |
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upcoming events
No scheduled events.
"They watch on, evil, incredibly stupid, enjoying my destruction.
'Poor Grendel's had an accident,' I whisper. 'So may you all.'"
— John Champlin Gardner Jr. (Grendel)
'Poor Grendel's had an accident,' I whisper. 'So may you all.'"
— John Champlin Gardner Jr. (Grendel)
"...ultimately it come down to, are you making or are you destroying? If you try very hard to create ways of living, create dreams of what is possible, then you win. If you don't, you may make a fortune in ten years, but you're not going to be read in twenty years, and that's that."
— John Champlin Gardner Jr.
— John Champlin Gardner Jr.
"We need to stop excusing mediocre and downright pernicious art, stop 'taking it for what it’s worth' as we take our fast foods, our overpriced cars that are no good, the overpriced houses we spend all our lives fixing, our television programs, our schools thrown up like barricades in the way of young minds, our brainless fat religions, our poisonous air, our incredible cult of sports, and our ritual of fornicating with all pretty or even horse-faced strangers. We would not put up with a debauched king, but in a democracy all of us are kings, and we praise debauchery as pluralism. This book is of course no condemnation of pluralism; but it is true that art is in one sense fascistic: it claims, on good authority, that some things are healthy for individuals and society and some things are not."
— John Champlin Gardner Jr. (On Moral Fiction)
— John Champlin Gardner Jr. (On Moral Fiction)
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