@GoranLowie The question then is: Does the monster get to do objectionable things while still being sympathetic? We love Murderbot, but Murderbot is a sweetheart, as opposed to John Gardner's Grendel or Madeline Miller's Circe.

Grendel author John Gardner died in a road accident OTD in 1982. In The Art of Fiction he wrote of "the dark psychological set of the ambitious young novelist struggling to write down his existence as it is, with the ghost of the young James Joyce standing horribly at his back." https://t.co/BjBvuXjVff

#lunchreads Today in author birthdays! John Gardner (1933-1982). He is most known for, Grendel, his masterful retelling of Beowulf. If you haven't read his short stories, do yourself a major favor and seek them out... https://t.co/mgAmASaQXi