In John Gardner’s Grendel, the author retells the story of Beowulf through Grendel’s perspective. After killing multiple guards in Hrothgar’s hall, Grendel retreats to his cave and is awakened by Unferth, a loyal warrior, who seeks glory in death. Grendel won’t oblige him, but before he returns him safely back to Hrothgar’s hall, he is cynical of Unferth’s “heroic” attitude. Unferth recognizes this and replies, “Go ahead, scoff. Except in the life of a hero, the whole world’s meaningless. The hero sees values beyond what’s possible. That’s the nature of a hero. It kills him, of course, ultimately. But it makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile” (89). In fiction, point of view is everything. Grendel is an attractive piece of literature, in that Gardner does a rare and unorthodox thing—he retells a classic story through the “villains” perspective. Through this viewpoint, Hrothgar comes across as a tyrant, Beowulf a bully, and the rest of society—wasteful, gluttonous, sexual perverts who have no respect for Mother Nature or the nourishment it provides.
This alternate perspective can be applied to S.J. Perelman's "Waiting for Santy," in which the image of Father Christmas has been perverted into "a pompous bourgeois of sixty-five who affects a white beard and a false air of benevolence" (56). This is a perfect example of "tendentious humor" in that the story's underlying purpose is to present "Santa" through a separate lens--that of a "cardiac" suffering glutton who uses elves, and offers in return "a forty-per-cent pay cut" (56-57). Themes of consumption, fulfillment, and "economic determinism" seep off the pages...and it's we the reader, who gain a different perspective.
Works Cited:
Gardner, John. Grendel. New York: Vintage Books, 1971.
Shalit, Gene. Laughing Matter's: A Celebration of American Humor. New York: Ballantine, 1987.
No comments:
Post a Comment