GRENDEL

GRENDEL is the poetic novel for which Gardner is best known. A retelling of the Anglo-Saxon epic BEOWULF from the monster's point of view, it is, as with all Gardner novels, an affirmation of life over death. Though anti-heroic Grendel has been seduced by the stark truth of existential nihilism and is rightly disgusted with mankind's "progress" towards civilization, Beowulf's message of life's cyclical ascendancy even in the face of its randomness carries the novel's power. Despite his trademark whiny, nasal voice, Wolfram Kandinsky is a good choice for the brooding, self-pitying Grendel as he informs the monster with a grudgingly deserved and comical humanity. P.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB 96]