Stillness and Shadows

by John Gardner

This volume includes "Stillness," a short novel undertaken by the author and his first wife as an exploration of their pasts as individuals and as a couple, and "Shadows," an unfinished long novel about a drunk, amnesiac detective's search for authentic identity

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Novels, 20th Century

421 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

John Champlin Gardner was a well-known and controversial American novelist and university professor, best known for his novel Grendel, a retelling of the Beowulf myth.

Gardner was born in Batavia, New York. His father was a lay preacher and dairy farmer, and his mother taught English at a local school. Both parents were fond of Shakespeare and often recited literature together. As a child, Gardner attended public school and worked on his father's farm, where, in April of 1945, his younger brother Gilbert was killed in an accident with a cultipacker. Gardner, who was driving the tractor during the fatal accident, carried guilt for his brother's death throughout his life, suffering nightmares and flashbacks. The incident informed much of Gardner's fiction and criticism — most directly in the 1977 short story "Redemption," which included a fictionalized recounting of the accident.

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gar...

Reviews

[JANEY MCGEARY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I read Stillness. I could not make sense of Shadows, perhaps too unfinished for me. This is one of those books I have had for years on my unread books shelf (which I am working my way through - less than 20 to go). Stillness is really extraordinary. I can't imagine why Gardner did not publish it in his lifetime. He gets at some truths behind love that turns destructive, at long term relationships, at many things that feel very relevant now, in 2022.