Grendel as Hero by John Gardner?"'I cry, I hug myself and I laugh, letting out salty tears, he he! until I fall to the ground panting and sobbing."1 With these words the reader is introduced to 'hero' of Gardner's Grendel, and the mood is set for the next few pages. How to interpret this ambiguous and melodramatic narrator, whose sentences mix apparently sincere emotional outbursts with witty (if cynical) observations and ideological reflections with ironic comments? Perhaps this is what makes Grendel such an extremely engaging narrator. In the first few pages, a confusing juxtaposition is established, in which the reader must somehow reconcile a hideous, murderous monster with a seemingly philosophical, intelligent, ironic, and thoughtful being. It is clear from the beginning that if Grendel is going to be the hero of this novel, then he will not be hero in the conventional sense of the word. The Macquarie Dictionary defines a hero as "a man of notable courage or performance, admired for his noble qualities."2 Grendel, the ruiner of Meadhalls, has no immediately obvious noble qualities, so how will he win over the reader? As the question suggests, Grendel has many character elements that can nevertheless win over his audience, such as his humor, intelligence, and self-awareness. In addition to these personal qualities, there are several external factors that arouse sympathy in the reader and tend to shine Grendel in a more favorable light. These include: his indoctrination by the dragon (who encouraged him to believe that it was his natural role and duty to harass the Scylding), and his imposed "immortality" (the view of which can be summed up in his comment, "So it is accompanies me day after day and... half of the paper... Review of Long Fiction Vols III 4 vols Fiction. Vol. III 4 vols.. Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1991. Rebsamen, Frederick: A Verse Translation New York: HarperCollins, 1991. End Notes1 Gardner, John, Grendel, New York: Vintage, 1989. p.6.2 Delbridge, A., Bernard, JRL, Blair, D., Peters, P., Butler, S., eds by, The Macquarie Dictionary, second edition, Macquarie, 1995, 826.3 Gardner, p 8.4 Ibid., p. 72-3.13 Ibidem , pp. 75.14 Ibid., p. 92.