John Champlin Gardner, Jr. (born July 21, 1933, Batavia, New York; died September 14, 1982, near Susquehanna, Pennsylvania) was an American novelist and university teacher. He was a popular and controversial figure until his death in a motorcycle accident at the age of 49. July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Batavia is a city located in USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 16,256. ... September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Susquehanna Depot is a borough in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 23 miles (37 km) southeast of Binghamton, N.Y., on the Susquehanna River. ...

Early life and education

Gardner's father was a lay preacher and dairy farmer; his mother taught English at a local school. His parents were very influential in his life. Both parents were fond of Shakespeare and often recited literature together. As a child, Gardner attended public school and worked on his father's farm, where, in April 1945 when Gardner was 11, his younger brother Gilbert was killed in an accident with a cultipacker. Gardner, who was driving the tractor during the fatal accident, carried the guilty feeling of responsibility for his brother's death throughout his life, suffering nightmares and flashbacks; the incident informed much of Gardner's fiction and criticism—most directly in the 1977 short story "Redemption", which included a fictionalized recounting of the accident.^[1] The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

Gardner began his university education at DePauw University, but received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1955. He received his M.A. from the University of Iowa. This school is not to be confused with DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, which has a similar pronunciation. ... Washington University in St. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of Iowa, or Iowa for short, is a major national research university located on a 1,900-acre campus in Iowa City, Iowa, USA, on the Iowa River in East Central Iowa. ...

Fiction

Gardner's most popular novels were The Sunlight Dialogues, about a brooding, disenchanted policeman who is asked to engage a madman fluent in classical mythology, Grendel, a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster's point of view, and October Light, about an aging and embittered brother and sister living and feuding together in upstate New York. This last novel won the National Book Critics' Circle Award in 1976. Each book features brutish, isolated figures struggling for integrity and understanding. The Sunlight Dialogues is a 1972 novel by the American author John Gardner. ... Grendel is a novel recasting the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel. ... The first page of Beowulf This article is about the epic poem. ...

Teaching and criticism

Gardner was a lifelong teacher of fiction writing. He was a favorite at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. His two books on the craft of writing fiction—The Art of Fiction and On Becoming a Novelist—are considered classics. He was famously obsessive with his work, and acquired a reputation for advanced craft, smooth rhythms, and careful attention to the continuity of the fictive dream. At one level or another, his books nearly always touched on the redemptive power of art. The Bread Loaf Writers Conference is the oldest writers conference in the United States. ...

In 1978, Gardner's book of literary criticism, On Moral Fiction, sparked a controversy that excited the mainstream media, vaulting Gardner into the spotlight with an interview on The Dick Cavett Show (May 16, 1978) and a cover story on The New York Times Magazine (July, 1979). His judgments of contemporary authors--including such luminaries of American fiction as John Updike and John Barth--which could be termed either direct, courageous, or unflattering, depending on one's perspective, harmed his relations with many in the publishing industry. Gardner has claimed that lingering animosity from critics of this book led to the lukewarm critical reception of his final novel, Mickelsson's Ghosts. What was unfortunately lost in the furor over On Moral Fiction was Gardner's compelling thesis, perhaps the most clear articulation of his normative fictional philosophy: that fiction should be moral. Gardner meant "moral" not in the sense of narrow religious or cultural "morality," but rather that fiction should aspire to discover those human values that are universally sustaining. Gardner felt that few contemporary authors were "moral" in this sense, but instead indulged in "winking, mugging despair" (to quote his assessment of Thomas Pynchon) or trendy nihilism in which Gardner felt they did not honestly believe. On Moral Fiction is a book-length essay by the American novelist John Gardner published in 1978. ... The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of many talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on several television networks, including: ABC daytime (March 4, 1968–January 24, 1969) (originally titled This Morning) ABC prime time (May 26–September 19, 1969) ABC late night (December 29, 1969–January 1, 1975... May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song). ... Image:John jackass updike. ... John Simmons Barth (born May 27, 1930) is an American novelist and short-story writer, known for the postmodernist and metafictive quality of his work. ... On Moral Fiction is a book-length essay by the American novelist John Gardner published in 1978. ... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ...

In 1994, Stewart O'Nan published "On Writers and Writing" a posthumous collection of Gardner's essays and reviews. His friend and former student Charles Johnson wrote an introduction that can be appreciated by the wider reading public. Stewart ONan (born February 4, 1961) is an American author, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Charles Johnson may refer to one of several individuals, including: Charles R. Johnson, contemporary African_American author Charles Johnson, 18th century Democratic_Republican politician from North Carolina Charles Elliott Johnson, contemporary Democratic politician from North Carolina Charles Johnson, Major League Baseball player Charles B. Johnson, chairman of Franklin Resources, Inc. ...

Gardner both inspired and intimidated his writing students. At Chico State University, when a young Raymond Carver mentioned to Gardner that he had read, but not liked, the assigned short story, Robert Penn Warren's "Blackberry Winter," Gardner said without smiling "You'd better read it again." Yet on another occasion, when Gardner saw that Carver needed a place to write undisturbed, Gardner gave him a key to his office. California State University, Chico California State University, Chico is the second_oldest campus in the California State University system. ... Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. ... Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic, and was one of the founders of The New Criticism. ...

The following anecdote, related in his On Becoming a Novelist, illustrates Gardner's combative personality. Once he went to the office of New York book editor David Segal carrying three substantial novel manuscripts, and wearing a black motorcycle jacket. He placed the manuscripts on Segal's desk, saying: "Mr. Segal, I'd like you to read these novels... now."

Scholarship

In 1977, Gardner published The Life and Times of Chaucer. In a review in the October 1977 issue of Speculum, Sumner J. Ferris pointed to several passages that were lifted either in whole or in part from work by other authors without proper citation. Ferris charitably suggested that Gardner had published the book too hastily, but on April 10, 1978, reviewer Peter Prescott, writing in Newsweek, accused Gardner of plagiarism, insinuations that were met by Gardner "with a sigh". For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Peter S. Prescott is an American author and book critic. ... The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ... Plagiarism, the activity, denoted by the verb, plagiarise, is claiming anothers writing as ones own. ...

Cancer

On December 10, 1977, Gardner was hospitalized with colon cancer. He remained in Johns Hopkins Hospital for about a month and a half. December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, 21 days before the next year. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Colorectal cancer, also called colon cancer or bowel cancer, includes cancerous growths in the colon, rectum and appendix. ... The Johns Hopkins Hospital is a teaching hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. ...

Family life

Gardner married cousin Joan Louise Patterson on June 6, 1953; the marriage saw children but ended in divorce. Gardner married the poet Elizabeth Rosenberg in 1980, but this marriage also ended in divorce. His fatal motorcycle crash came days before he was to marry Susan Thornton. (Her On Broken Glass: Loving and Losing John Gardner, published in 2000, is a memoir of her relationship with Gardner.) June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining // 1508 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year truce and cede several territories to Venice 1513... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

Gardner is buried next to his brother Gilbert in Batavia's Grandview Cemetery.

Books by Gardner

Fiction

• The Resurrection
• The Wreckage of Agathon
• Grendel
• The Sunlight Dialogues
• Jason and Medeia
• Nickel Mountain
• The King's Indian
• October Light
• In the Suicide Mountains (1977)
• Freddy's Book
• The Art of Living and Other Stories
• Mickelsson's Ghosts
• The King's Indian: Stories and Tales
  • The secret life of our times (1973) as a contributor to this work by Gordon Lish

Grendel is a novel recasting the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel. ... The Sunlight Dialogues is a 1972 novel by the American author John Gardner. ... Mickelssons Ghosts is John Gardners final novel. ... Gordon Jay Lish (born February 11, 1934 in Hewlett, New York) is an American author and editor. ...

Biography

• The Life and Times of Chaucer

Children's stories

• Dragon, Dragon (and Other Tales) (1975)
• Gudgekin The Thistle Girl (and Other Tales) (1976)

Didactic

• The Poetry of Chaucer
• On Moral Fiction
• On Becoming a Novelist
• The Art of Fiction

On Moral Fiction is a book-length essay by the American novelist John Gardner published in 1978. ...

Translation

• Gilgamesh (with John Maier)

Essays and reviews

• On Writers and Writing

References

1. ^ (1990) Allan Chavkin: Conversations with John Gardner. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 0-87805-422-7. 

External links

• Literary Encyclopedia biography (in-progress)
• johngardner.org
• Grendel Page
• The Art Of Living review
• 1981 audio interview with John Gardner by Don Swaim of CBS Radio - RealAudio
• John Gardner Society and John Gardner Conference, hosted by Genesee Community College
• The Paris Review Interview with John Gardner