Mass-Market Marathon

This afternoon, I start Grendel, John Gardner’s 1971 novel telling the story of Beowulf’s first great opponent from the monster’s point of view. The version I’ve got is identical to the one I read in Modern Literature my junior year in high school, where Ms. Martin, her hair in a severe bun but her eyes twinkling with delight, introduced us to post-modernism, existentialism, and the absurd. It’s one of the only mass-market paperbacks I’ve ever seen issued by Vintage, the venerable publisher of trade (large-format) paperbacks, and though its cover is so very 1980s, the interior features Emil Antonucci’s evocative 1971 drawings of the monster: in repose, bellowing in agony, brooding about the cruel hand fate has dealt him. Continue reading at 'Slate'

[ Slate | 2013-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]

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