John Gardner: A Tiny Eulogy

by Phil Jourdan

John Gardner’s career was permanently changed by his publication of On Moral Fiction (1978), a controversial and derided assessment of the state of literature as Gardner saw it. By arguing for a return to greater seriousness and moral commitments in literature, Gardner found himself attacked on all sides by critics and writers who found his conservatism suspicious or simply irrelevant.

In this short tribute to Gardner’s late intellectual concerns, Phil Jourdan looks at some of the difficulties in On Moral Fiction, and asks whether Gardner was rigorous enough in his deployment of various philosophical concepts through his book. Convinced that, despite any problems of argumentative method or intellectual honesty, On Moral Fiction‘s basic message should not be dismissed outright, Jourdan tries to determine what is superfluous to the book, so that we may focus on its core: a call for writers not to forget their moral influence on readers.

Now that Gardner’s career is half-forgotten, it is worth remembering this impassioned and public debate on the role of literature has been around far longer than we care to pretend: throughout the centuries, as literature attempts to define itself over and over, the question of morality is always lurking in the background. In John Gardner: A Tiny Eulogy, Phil Jourdan tries to separate the man from the argument, and insists that the latter should not be dismissed because of the imperfection of the former.

60 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2012

About the author

Phil Jourdan is the author of Praise of Motherhood (Zero Books), What Precision, Such Restraint (Perfect Edge) and John Gardner: A Tiny Eulogy (Punctum Books).

He is editor of scifi and fantasy at Angry Robot, and managing editor at Repeater Books.

He is one of the co-founders of the online writing workshop and lit magazine, LitReactor.

Reviews

[Kyle Muntz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic take on Gardner's moral fiction--which, I think, is deeply, deeply fair, and interesting as a piece of literary criticism as well as (in places) for its philosophical grounding. Jourdan's purpose seems to be a redemption of Gardner's legacy: that even though On Moral Fiction had such negative effects on the way people see Gardner, this book and especially his novels are still worth reading.

For a piece of academic writing, Jourdan's prose is remarkably clear--some of the best critical prose I've read--and (also exceptional) the piece seems to have a deeply personal dimension, which is sometimes frowned on but I think gives this book a genuine reason to exist. At about 40 pages it's also the perfect length.

Maybe the most interesting thing is that, by the end, I found myself agreeing with Gardner a little. The idea of "moral" fiction (based on simplistic dichotomies etc) is absurd to me, but Gardner seemed to be advocating something a little more basic: that, at least in some way, a book should make the world a better place. I don't know how I feel about the idea of moral responsibility but in that sense it's really not such a weak argument.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because we recorded a Supercontext episode about the book “On Moral Fiction,” the subject of Jourdan’s loving, careful critique.