John Gardner: Literary Outlaw (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: epic conversation, moral fiction, John Gardner, Literary Outlaw, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the 1960s and '70s, when literary authors had the widespread appeal of rock stars, John Gardner was the perfect icon of the era: a highly regarded novelist who partied hard and rode a motorcycle. Silesky's briskly paced biography follows the controversial author of The Sunlight Dialogues and other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels from his rural beginnings near Batavia, N.Y., to the motorcycle accident that killed him at the age of 49, days before his third wedding. In between, Gardner led an intense, active life, producing enormous amounts of fiction and medieval scholarship, writing librettos and children's books, and editing academic journals, all the while building a highly successful teaching career in which he mentored dozens of young writers. At the root of Gardner's frenetic race toward literary greatness was, according to Silesky (Ferlinghetti: The Artist in His Times), a tragic childhood accident-his younger brother was killed by a 1,500-pound farm machine that John was driving-that left him with a deep sense of guilt and of his own mortality. In Silesky's book, the alcoholic, emotionally and physically reckless Gardner plows into his success at full speed and then summarily self-destructs. Drawing from Gardner's interviews, lectures and autobiographical fiction, as well as the testimony of friends and relatives, Silesky's account is well researched, though his dull, expository writing never delves deep. But Gardner's combination of genius and excess makes him a powerfully compelling character, and this book will pique renewed interest in his vast body of work.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–From writing to drinking to preaching for moral art to his death at age 49 in a motorcycle accident, Gardner's life was nothing if not mythic. This fast-paced, highly readable biography draws a clear portrait of the writer as a human being. The book opens with the accidental death of his brother, Gilbert. According to Silesky, this tragedy became a source of pain that Gardner would always carry with him and one that would continually impact his fiction. After a brief detour into family background, the book traces the major points of its subject's artistic, critical, and academic life. It spends some time describing his major works, such as Grendel (Knopf, 1971), but these explications are simplified and may disappoint those looking for a more critical approach. They do, however, work well for general readers and will hopefully inspire some to search out Gardner's once-popular books. While Silesky obviously admires his subject's enormous drive and intense dedication to his art, he takes care to show how destructive this passion could be. He includes substantial quotations from family members, colleagues, and rivals, providing a balanced look at the man and his actions. He proves the real Gardner to be significantly more compelling than any myth.–Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: A Shannon Ravenel Book; 1 edition (February 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565122186
• ISBN-13: 978-1565122185
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,128,367 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking, January 7, 2004

By	A. C. Walter "awalter" (Lynnwood, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As the story of a now unjustly neglected American author of great scholarly and artistic importance, this biography begins with an inspirational tone that, all too soon, turns heartbreaking and as affecting as anything in Gardner's own fiction. In many ways the life of John Gardner mirrors a struggle in the heart of modern America--there is something especially tragic about great idealism and intellectual conviction that fails to manifest fully in one's personal life.

Silesky's book has a few failings, but the greatest of these is something that, most likely, could not be avoided with the present effort--and that is the book's length. For the most part, it seems that when he came to tough choices on what to include, Silesky stuck with his expressed theme, that of Gardner as "literary outlaw," a conflicted author who struggled against authority while also championing the ideas of "law and order." It cannot have been an easy thing to get the go-ahead for publishing even a book of moderate length about an author of whose novels all but one have dropped out of print in the 20 years since his death. However, squeezing the experiences of Gardner's 49 years into just over 300 pages makes for a very tight fit, especially when it comes to the details of certain relationships. For instance, we get a few references to the "several miscarriages" Joan, his first wife, had. But, with the exception of the final miscarriage, we do not get a real sense of the impact this had on the relationship. We also must wonder about Gardner's relationship with his two children when the family split, since we never learn if he had much contact with Lucy and Joel in the last years of his life. One especially craves more details of his association with other writers--his now-famous students, such as Charles Johnson and Raymond Carver, and the peers he knew socially, such Joyce Carol Oates and William Gass. Such details might have been elaborated if Silesky had curbed the attention paid, at key points in the biography, to Gardner's books and their critical reception, yet the context of these passages is important as well. Silesky has walked a difficult line structuring this book, and we can be grateful for his effort while also hoping that the book helps to fuel further Gardner scholarship and, perhaps, another biography or two sometime down the line. For the present, this book satisfies a long-felt void in the realm of Gardner scholarship.

I know that all of Gardner's family is not happy with this book, but Gardner enthusiasts will find it irresistible. A word of warning, however. In the modern world we have perhaps an unprecedented number of opportunities to develop admiration for people we have never met, and Gardner has earned his fair share of devotees--in no small part due to that invaluable instruction book for writers, "The Art of Fiction." So, be warned that learning the details of Gardner's personal life may not be an entirely pleasant business. However illuminating this book is about the human condition, the life it chronicles also has a side to it that is terribly devastating.

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Forgive him, John, he knows not..., February 6, 2004

By A Customer

I have read almost everything Gardner wrote, and if you're at all like me then you've probably already read this book, JG's first major biography. You probably even enjoyed it, because you love Gardner so much, and because he's so interesting. Which makes Barry Silesky's monumental failure here so upsetting and disappointing. It is so sad that he is writing about a writer who cared massively about art's deeper thematic questions and meanings, yet Silesky himself cannot manage a single intelligent reading of one of Gardner's books. It's all none-too-bright paraphrase; when he writes about their critical reception, he quotes (I'm not exaggerating) from their paperback blurb copy. It is also sad that he is writing about a writer who loved beautiful, dense prose, yet Silesky himself writes so drably, and boringly, and unenlighteningly, that you want to spike the book. Other things: Gardner was accused of plagiarism several times (not just once, as Silesky has it), and apparently "borrowing" was central to his creative process. Fascinating notion, no? Number of pages Silesky devotes to this: 0. It is spelled Finnegans Wake, not (Jesus!) Finnegan's Wake. Fellows are not the lowest rung in the Bread Loaf hierachy, they're the second-highest. Alison Lurie and not Allison Lurie. And so on. But God love Barry Silesky: he published the thing, he talked to a lot of Gardner's friends and rivals, and people might be talking about Gardner again. But man: what a blown opportunity this book is. Someday a real artist will write about Gardner, and a great book will result. It hurt to write this; it really did. I wanted to like it so much. Respect, pity, and anger to Barry Silesky, then. May God keep him.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Writer Writes about Good Writer, June 9, 2009

By	Joan P. Gardner "Cousin" (Bennington, VT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Many years have passed since Silesky's scattered account of John Gardner's life & work was published. Alas, the confusion, garbage,& errors haven't settled into a form of truth. When Silesky wanted a writer to profile, he admitted to the 2 Gardner friends who recommended John that he had read almost nothing of Gardner's work. Now there was a red light already!
(NOTE: John & I were 1st cousins, had been married for more than 23 years--between the ages of 19 $ 43; I was the mother of his 2 children; I didn't want to contribute, partly because I was writing my own memoir for our own family; I was extricated from the marriage & was more than ready for a sane, calm life.)
Having read some of Silesky's other writings, it's clear that he was not the one for the job; his own writing & critical education were less than moderate, to be blunt. During the course of his project, he wanted me to answer questions and give him more information, which I did not want to do since it was his job to do the research & write the book. I did agree to vet some of his findings & verify/modify some of the more outrageous claims.)
He set forth on a trek to visit many of the places where we'd lived, where he interviewed people from the past who had their own axes & violins to grind. People who hadn't even known John or me personally had plenty to say; we're talking tabloid quality here. Many of the people who really knew us had either passed on or had gone on to higher ivory towers. Others wouldn't talk to him. Somehow in the gossip pit he neglected the good times and the actual writing--John's important work.
So this is not a complete picture, by any means. Most people agree that John was a wonderful, dedicated teacher, generous with his time. They also agree that he was a fine, prolific writer of all kinds of books. They know that he was a personal mess, & he could make your own life one. But John, once an innocent, loving farmboy, developed into a bi-polar nutbag who lost his sense and his life in ignominious fashion. Striving to be the Ren Man was taxing, & he paid the ultimate price.
Yes, it was more than sad that John Gardner became Grendel, but he deserved a better biographer.