John Gardner
John Champlin Gardner was an American novelist and teacher. He was born in 1933 in Batavia, New York. He was a popular and controversial figure until his death, while riding a motorcycle, in 1982.Gardner's most popular novels were The Sunlight Dialogues about a brooding, disenchanted policemen who is called upon to engage a madman fluent in classical mythology, and Grendel a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster's point of view. Both books feature brutish figures struggling for integrity and understanding. Gardner was famously obsessive with his work and has a reputation for advanced craft, smooth rhythms and careful attention to the continuity of the fictive dream.
Throughout his adult life Gardner continued to teach writing. He was a favorite at the Breadloaf writers conference and his two books on authorship -- The Art of Fiction and On Becoming a Novelist -- are considered classics. However, the conclusive and didactic style was not well recieved in his book of criticism called On Moral Fiction. His direct and often unflattering judgements of contemporary authors harmed his relationships with many in the publishing industry.
John Gardner was married twice, first to ??, and then to the poet Elizabeth Rosenberg. When he died he was engaged to ??.
Some Books by John Gardner
--fiction--The Resurrection The Wreckage of Agathon Grendel The Sunight Dialogues Jason and Medeia Nickel Mountain The King's Indian October Light Freddy's Book The Art of Living and Other Stories Mickelsson's Ghosts
--biography-- The Life and Times of Chaucer
--childrens stories -- In the Suicide Mountains
-- didactic -- The Poetry of Chaucer On Moral Fiction On becoming a Novelist The Art of Fiction
-- translation -- Gilgamesh (with John Maier)