''Grendel'' is a novel by John Gardner, retelling the epic of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' from the point of view of the monster Grendel.

It was animated in Australia, under the title ''Grendel Grendel Grendel''.
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!!This novel provides examples of:

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[invoked]]Grendel is a poor lonely misunderstood guy who can't communicate with humans despite not meaning them any harm. [[StartOfDarkness At first.]] Beowulf, on the other hand, is a psychopath.
* {{Angst}}: Lots of it - mainly of the "What's the purpose of it all?" vein. Leads to {{Wangst}}.
* BlackComedy
* DeadpanSnarker: Grendel himself has at least two such moments while [[spoiler: Beowulf is smacking his head against a wall]].
-->''"I sing for [[spoiler: the hardness of walls]]. Hooray for [[spoiler: the hardness of walls]]."''
* DirtyOldMan: This version gives us the dragon that Beowulf fights at the end of the poem as one.
-->''"Boobies, hemorrhoids boils, slaver (nyeh heh heh)..."''
* DragonHoard: The dragon not only hoards gold, he also advises Grendel that the only point of life is to "find a pile of gold and sit on it."
* {{Epigraph}}: Opens with a quotation from "The Mental Traveller" by [[Creator/WilliamBlake William Blake]].
* HeManWomanHater: Apparently being raised by a barely-sentient monster doesn't help one's view of women. Grendel might be applying little bit of HoYay jealousy to the king's wife as well.
* HumanoidAbomination: What Grendel perceives Beowulf as. Aside from his strength, Grendel can't help but notice something ''[[UncannyValley wrong]]'' about his face and shoulders, which isn't helped by Grendel's pain-induced hallucinations featuring Beowulf sprouting flaming wings.
* HumansAreBastards: Grendel means no harm to the people, but they treat him as a horrible monster.
* NietzscheWannabe: The dragon, who also manages to convince Grendel to stop trying to make up with the Danes and just kill them instead.
* PerspectiveFlip
* StrawCharacter: A variety of viewpoints are mocked without a satisfactory rebuttal.
* SympatheticPOV
* TwiceToldTale
* VillainProtagonist
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