Teacher Guide

Grendel Lesson Plan

About the Author

John Gardner was born in 1933 in Batavia, New York. He grew up on his father’s dairy farm, where his parents cultivated in him a love of literature from an early age. Gardner witnessed his younger brother’s tragic death in an accident on the farm, and this traumatic event became a major influence on Gardner’s writing. John Gardner spent his adult life in academia, achieving a Masters and a Ph.D. and teaching fiction writing at several universities. His novels, including Grendel, have received notable critical acclaim. However, some of Gardner’s stances as a literary critic have provoked controversy, particularly his collection of essays On Moral Fiction, in which he suggests that good...

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