“A true work of fiction is a wonderfully simple thing — so simple that most so-called serious writers avoid trying it, feeling they ought to do something more important and ingenious, never guessing how incredibly difficult it is. A true work of fiction does all of the following things, and does them elegantly and efficiently: it creates a vivid and continuous dream in the reader’s mind; it is implicitly philosophical; it fulfills or at least deals with all of the expectations it sets up; and it strikes us, in the end, not simply as a thing done, but as a shining performance.” – John Gardner, “What Writers Do”
One response to “Fiction”
Gardner’s a genius. Grendel is the reward you get for suffering through Beowulf. Its ending ranks with Paradise Lost and Twain’s Diaries of Adam and Eve as the best conclusions to stories ever. Like a bell, they keep resonating long after we can hear them.
But please take note: Nowhere in this quote does the Professor explicitly refer to caving in dead things’ skulls.
That must be our job here.
“Poor Grendel’s had an accident,” I whisper. “So may you all.”